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Subject:Re: Re[2]: generic "he" From:Vicki Rosenzweig <murphy!acmcr!vr -at- UUNET -dot- UU -dot- NET> Date:Thu, 1 Dec 1994 09:23:48 EST
Gentles,
Did we not recently agree that the appropriate form for most if
not all technical writing is the second person? Is it not accepted
here that a manual is better addressed to "you, the user" than written
about "the user....he/she/they/he or she"? The generic pronoun issue
may need to be resolved elsewhere, but for the purposes of technical
writing we're in an ideal position to evade it, since "you" is a
truly generic pronoun, applying to any number of persons, of either or
both sexes, who are being addressed.
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr%acmcr -dot- uucp -at- murphy -dot- com
New York, NY
