From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!npois!alice!rabbit!jj
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Title: Re: sexless words
Article-I.D.: rabbit.597
Posted: Wed Jul 7 22:28:13 1982
Received: Fri Jul 9 00:46:25 1982
References: uwvax.469
This is rabbit!jj again
Perhaps I should be a bit more specific. I particularly object to
the word "chairperson" because it does not have the same meaning.
The meaning of chairman is the "hand" of the
chair. Fireman, as Jon (whoever you are)
brings out, is a different case. It is sexist, besides, what does
a fireman do anyhow? Set fires? Firefighter at least conveys
the information in a more descriptive sense.
I do object to making every sentence plural so that I can use
their instead of his/hers, and so on. Perhaps someone will
fill the need for the third person non-gender-specific pronoun.
It just doesn't work. I'm not an IT.
Oh yes, for the two hate letters :
My q key is just fine, thank you.
Since this is a language group, I would welcome some real
discussion on how to eliminate the gender discrimination, without
eliminating the information flow at the same time.
Hope to see some real discussion.
rabbit!jj