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Subject:Re: Please stop vague language discussions From:Sharon Rosenthal/MANUGISTICS <Sharon_Rosenthal -at- MANU -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 20 Dec 1995 09:12:32 -0500
Andrew Woodhouse writes:
"NOTE: The use of 'hero' is intended neither to signify the masculine or exclude
the feminine although masculinity and femininity, of course, are merely
constructs of a misogynistic, patriachal society and are thus meaningless.
However, this term is used since the gender - although merely a construct of a
misogynistic, patriachal society - is insignificant to this tale."
I believe that hero is perfectly acceptable to refer to a male or a female, as
is teacher, author, administrator (please don't write administratrix!), and,
yes, even waiter (although some don't agree with me on that one) to name but a
few.
And for my .02 cents, 'they' as a singular pronoun works just fine in my
writing. I originally fought long and hard for using 'they," but now, 10 years
later, some people are coming around. However, in my present position of
writing training materials, we use the second person.
Refer to the Handbook of Nonsexist Writing by Miller and Swift on both points.
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)
Sharon Rosenthal
Rockville, MD
sharon_rosenthal @manu.com
