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In an off-line message, I said:
<<If "s/he" smacks of excessive political consciousness to
some folks, "one" smacks of excessive formality to almost
everyone. It becomes absurd very quickly: "If one cannot
find the necessary disk, one should contact one's suppliers
and request that they send one a new one." --And even at
that I had to make the suppliers plural!>>
Geoff Hart replied:
<<You should definitely post that one (no pun intended)
to the list. I've seen the usage, and consider it stuffy or
pretentious in most cases, but I can easily see it losing
that feel. For example, there was a while when Monty Python
was popular here in Canada and Britishisms were de rigeur.
Perhaps 'tis time to one again?>>
So here it is, for those of you who still care. Apologies to the
rest of you. (If/when I get Web access, I have high on my list
the Gender-Free Pronoun FAQ which Bev Parks mentioned!)
K Watkins
kwatkins -at- quickpen -dot- com
speaking for myself, not my employers
