jamcmullan@watmath.UUCP (Judy McMullan) (04/23/84)
>I don't want to come off the same way, using the rather >stilted "WOMAN" to ingratiate myself. Go ahead. Ingratiate yourself to me, that way, any time. Once I am called a 'girl' by somebody, they have to go a hell of a long way toward being reasonable, intelligent, sensitive, etc. before I'll start treating them other than superficially. I just figure they are so far out of my world that I couldn't exchange more than "pass the salt" or "will that report be ready by Tuesday" with them. Anyway, I am here to put in my two cents worth and "make it more evident" to you that there IS support for this 'fad' of neuter language forms or elimination of disrespectful forms (like 'girl' for grown women). --from the sssstickkky keyboard of JAM ...!{allegra|decvax}!watmath!jamcmullan
preece@uicsl.UUCP (04/28/84)
#R:watmath:-759400:uicsl:16400055:000:756 uicsl!preece Apr 27 21:46:00 1984 Anyway, I am here to put in my two cents worth and "make it more evident" to you that there IS support for this 'fad' of neuter language forms or elimination of disrespectful forms (like 'girl' for grown women). ---------- You can have my two cents, too. I think that today it's just sloppy to not avoid gender neutrality in writing. I would like to ask for an advisory opinion on what age makes a reasonable breakpoint between girl and woman. In telling stories about high school, is it all right to refer to girls (high school was some time ago, the issue didn't come up then)? I think my five year old can safely be called a girl. I would also like to thank JAM for my favorite signature of the month. scott preece ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece
preece@uicsl.UUCP (04/28/84)
#R:watmath:-759400:uicsl:16400057:000:861 uicsl!preece Apr 28 10:53:00 1984 NEEDLESS TO SAY, I didn't mean to say it was "sloppy to not avoid gender neutrality in writing." Someday I'm going to learn to read what I write after I write it and not assume that what I wrote was what I was thinking... I strongly believe in gender neutrality in writing; in reviewing a chapter for a major annual review volume I recently flagged several instance that could be easily recast to avoid the use of the generic masculine (the chapter was by a reasonably prominent Unix person who, I'm sure, had no intention to insult). On the other hand, I wouldn't want to do unnecessary violence to the language, either. I like English, it's a very rich medium for expressing oneself. Reasonable care can usually arrive at a way of expressing an idea without using gender specific language. scott preece ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece <- fairly new address
debray@sbcs.UUCP (05/02/84)
<>
In my opinion, the important point here is neither the sanctity of English
nor the demands of vociferous groups, but clarity of expression and ease of
comprehension. That's what language is all about.
Let's face it - English isn't immutable. No living language is. So any
attempt to resist *all* change is doomed from the start. On the other hand,
too much change may not be good either. Suppose, for example, that my
office-mate decided to find the article "an" offensive, and began
campaigning that only the article "a" be used, on the grounds that the word
"an" was "insulting" to him. With all due respect to him, I would contend
that such a change would be unreasonable, since it would make some phrases
more awkward to say - that ease of expression would suffer.
Personally, I'm perfectly willing to go along with language reform where
clarity/ease of expression and comprehension does not suffer, e.g.
replacing "fireman" by "firefighter". I refuse to pollute my text with
those convoluted constructions involving half a dozen "he-or-she"s to
satisfy somebody's political aspirations. And spare me that abomination, the
"s/he" construct, that's the devil to parse!
Let's be progressive, by all means, but let's not subvert linguistic
principles because it's politically expedient.
--
Saumya Debray, SUNY at Stony Brook
uucp:
{cbosgd, decvax, ihnp4, mcvax, cmcl2}!philabs \
{amd70, akgua, decwrl, utzoo}!allegra > !sbcs!debray
{teklabs, hp-pcd, metheus}!ogcvax /
CSNet: debray@suny-sbcs@CSNet-Relay