From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!alice!mhtsa!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhb5c!mjs Newsgroups: net.nlang Title: IT Article-I.D.: mhb5c.1004 Posted: Sat Jul 17 13:53:02 1982 Received: Sun Jul 18 01:38:34 1982 References: floyd.348 Personally, I find that those who object to the tradition of using the male gender as non-specific react even more violently to the use of `it' and other specifically neuter words. After a few `it's, most folks find that they (male or female) prefer to be refered to as non-specific males. In fact, several females I know are of the conviction that `guys' is also neuter! I have no particular preference, except that I have little interest in changing my grammatical habits. All through grammar, junior high, and high schools, I was taught that use of the male pronoun was `correct' to refer to either a mixed group or an unspecified group. Is there anyone on the net that wasn't taught this rule? Ok, maybe I'm lazy. I'm willing to abide by whatever a true authority dictates, however. Why is there not an American Academy -- the equivalent of the French authority on the French language?Marty Shannon, Jr. BTL MH 5E-103 201-582-3199