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Subject:Re: sex or gender?) From:"Bailey, Doug S" <dsbailey -at- PO4 -dot- PCMAIL -dot- INGR -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 10 Feb 1995 16:11:00 CST
>>There are 30 women firefighters...
>>Is this a result of feminist pressure?
> When I read the original posting, I stumbled over
>"women"! I vote "female" to be used in these instances.
>God only knows who thought that a change like that would
>be an improvement! Sure hope it wasn't the result of
>feminist pressure...
I don't seriously think it's because of feminists, but I do believe
it is part of the PC movement. IMO, it sounds awkward and
ungrammatical to my sensitive ears. :-) I just don't think
'female' has negative connotations, I guess.
>BTW, remember the (short) thread on quotes vs punctuation?
>I'm with the British- put the punctuation AFTER the quotes!
>Above, I didn't stumble over "women!", I stumbled over
>"women", like I said! :)
Good point. I used to *always* put punctuation inside quotes,
since fiction has always been my first love. But now that I'm
writing non-fiction more and more, I see how confusing that
policy can be. Now I check for ambiguity before I place my
punctuation...
Doug
Douglas S. Bailey, Technical Writer
System Software Documentation
Intergraph Corporation
Huntsville, AL 35894-0001
x6072
