Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!uflorida!haven!adm!xadmx!rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov From: rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov (Root Boy Jim) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: sexist language Message-ID: <17618@adm.BRL.MIL> Date: 22 Nov 88 16:46:49 GMT Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL Lines: 50 ? From: Frederic Maffray ? Pierre Laforgue wrote: ? #> Why don't you use the latin language, instead of decadent ? #> ones as is the english ? ... ? #> The french language is more subtil than english : ... ? # From the folks that brought us that admirable word "Chauvinisme". ? It's funny, this newsgroup gets cluttered every month by yet ? another (American) person who starts again the usual discussion ? about English beign the richest language, with the most nuances, ? the most words, etc. In a word "the best language in the world." ? This usually does not even elicit accusations of chauvinism. But ? if one person who happens to be French does just the same, ? obviously with his tongue in cheek, he is immediately flamed. Well, I'd still take Anglais sur Francais, but you let that bozo off the hook too easily. He thinks the word `chauvinism' has something to do with sexism. It does not, except in a derivitive sense. Look it up. Besides, we have words for lotsa nice stuff too. And it's not fineness of meaning or MAXWORDS that excite me. It's the shedding of excess baggage: gender, (most) conjugation, diacritical marks, and the addition of the possessive form instead of "R$*'s $* $2 de $1" (of course, since the worm struck we're all sendmail experts :-). In return we give up fonetik pronunciation, but I would argue for doing violence in that arena to rid the language some of the more rediculous spellings. Even those who flamed me unmercifully for my abundance of x's in the C language newsgroup (hey, may I should overuse c's in the X newsgroup :-), seem to tolerate my use of `copys' instead of `copies', and the more blatent `enuf'. Actually, perhaps that bozo isn't so far off the mark, as our language adapts thru usage, words actually change their meaning. We have no Purity Of Essence committee saying what is and whut ain't English. So for example, one older dictionary gives two definitions for chauvinism, excessive {patriotism,devotion}, while a newer one adds the more modern definition with the implied adjective `male'. ? [Reminds me of the case of the Dutch person who posted a month ago ? and who got flamed by Americans for his spelling mistakes.] Hey, I can relate to that! :-) ? Fred (Root Boy) Jim Cottrell (301) 975-5688 or Crackers and Worms -- Breakfast of Champions!