brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (09/01/85)
In article <501@lasspvax.UUCP> norman@lasspvax.UUCP (Norman Ramsey) writes: > >David Brin, in his _Startide_Rising_, created (?) the following usage: > > people are "men" > male people are "mels" > female people are "fems" > doplhins are "fen" (one dolphin is a "fin") > >Not beautiful, perhaps, but it works... so some people *are* doing something >about it. I found this use quite fascinating. There was one scene that really hit home. (SPOILER) In this scene, a fem officer makes a broadcast to all the various nasty aliens. We then get some dialogue from an alien viewpoint. One says, "there is a man broadcasting so and so." Two things hit me. First, from an alien viewpoint, males and females simply would be seen as men, with no sex distinctions. Secondly, I did assume male when the alien said "man" and thus did a doubletake, so I was a bit disappointed in myself for not being as sexist as the alien. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473