dr_who@umcp-cs.UUCP (08/12/83)
Instead of "he", "they", or even "it", how about "she"? One author I've read used "he" and "she" for the universal pronoun in alternate paragraphs. That's a pretty good solution, but it can be distracting -- one tends to be continually aware of this detail with each new paragraph. I propose the logical solution: "she" all the time. If use of "she" for the universal pronoun were common, or if it were used throughout an entire book instead of every other paragraph, it would soon fade from one's consciousness (i.e., no longer be distracting). After all these years of "he", it wouldn't be sexist to try "she" for a while. Turnabout is fair play! (Well, sometimes, anyway.) --Paul Torek, U of MD College Park
myers@uwvax.ARPA (Jeff Myers) (08/21/83)
Paul Torek suggests the use of "she" as the impersonal pronoun. In at least one book I know of, an introductory Pascal text called *Oh! Pascal!*, Paul's idea has been implemented. The book notes its practice by saying something to the effect that women have been forced to put up with "he" for several hundred years, so a decade or two of "she" shouldn't hurt anyone.