On Tue, 2004-08-03 at 00:55, reisio wrote: > IMO he/she & him/her is silly. If someone wants to take time to make it > all completely unspecific (eg. "they", etc) kudos; otherwise I think > you're being paranoid. > Helen Faulkner wrote:
Um... a) pls don't top post b) language *means* something - gender specific language *means* gender-specific intent - don't _say_ 'computer' when you mean 'x86' or 'PPC', no? c) 'paranoid' might be justified in another circumstance - complaints about gender-specific language aren't 'paranoid' - they're practical - welcome to the (early) 20th century. Normal humans use 'they' (or 'she/he') when they talk about humans, unless they are discussing gender-specific issues. For example, saying 'he/she' when discussing testicular cancer might be 'paranoid' Using a gender-neutral pronoun when discussing J.Random User is just sensible. George
