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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