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From:"Smith, Amy" <Amy -dot- Smith -at- FMR -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 4 Aug 1995 08:44:11 -0500
On August 3, Gene Ledbetter wrote:
>James Perkins mentioned the idiosyncratic convention of
>using the pronoun "she," rather than the traditional "he,"
>when referring to an anonymous individual. I once owned an
>entire book that followed this unconvention. The practice
>was distracting and irritating...
I don't understand why substituting "she" for "he" is irritating and
distracting, unless
of course, the reader is a "he." BIG <g> ;-) ;-) ;-) Perhaps this male
reader can now understand why
female readers sometimes find the traditional, ubiquitous use of "he"
irritating and distracting. ;-) ;-) ;-)
>I have also read material in which the author alternated between
>"he" and "she." This practice was extremely irritating, and
>I tossed the fool thing aside unread.
*This* I can understand, and I would have done the same thing!
Amy Smith
Fidelity Investments
amy -dot- smith -at- fmr -dot- com