Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site oddjob.UChicago.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!gargoyle!oddjob!matt From: matt@oddjob.UChicago.UUCP (Matt Crawford) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: Is "woman" really better than "girl" Message-ID: <454@oddjob.UChicago.UUCP> Date: Fri, 21-Sep-84 16:19:15 EDT Article-I.D.: oddjob.454 Posted: Fri Sep 21 16:19:15 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 21:42:41 EDT References: <390@genrad.UUCP> Organization: U. Chicago: Astronomy & Astrophysics Lines: 20 The law and general usage both recognize the right of the individual to be called by any NAME they wish. The law restricts this right to disallow fraudulent purposes, and general courtesy dictates that if one changes names too often, one's acquaintances must be forgiven for not keeping up. Can we not extend people some form of this privilege when it comes to words which are not their names? A person whom one knows well can of course be referred to in any they find acceptable -- if your romantic interest likes "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", go ahead and introduce them that way. To a stranger, on the other hand, we must extend the courtesy of not assuming. Just as we would respect a person's wish not to be called by their first name, even though it accurately denotes that person, we should recognize that they may not wish to be denoted by certain other words, whether those words are considered accurate or not. The question of what word is the most accurate to apply need never arise, only the question of what words are least likely to give offense. If we use these words and offense is still taken, then it is not we who have shown bad manners. ___________________________________________________________ Matt University ARPA: crawford@anl-mcs.arpa Crawford of Chicago UUCP: ihnp4!oddjob!matt