|
View Poll Results: Do you want English to have a genderless pronoun? | |||
No. | 37 | 48.05% | |
He works for me. | 7 | 9.09% | |
She works for me. | 0 | 0% | |
He/she works for me | 0 | 0% | |
Alternating he and she in example works for me. | 1 | 1.30% | |
Yes. | 32 | 41.56% | |
Voters: 77. You may not vote on this poll |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
09-01-2012, 01:15 PM | #136 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,507
Karma: 306214458
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
Personally, I like the male/female words, but I'm willing to forgo them if they people involved prefer to move towards a unified word. And when we consider professions which don't have separate words (e.g. weaver), it would seem pretty odd to try to add in a separate word. Can anyone imagine calling a female weaver a weavress? So on the whole, it probably is the way the language will go. The simpler option (one word per profession) will win out. |
|
09-01-2012, 03:20 PM | #137 |
Audiophile
Posts: 452
Karma: 2470850
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Manitoba
Device: Nexux7 2nd Gen & Kobo Touch
|
As a young girl, I always hated the default to he & his.
Made me think my gender wasn't as important as the other. Adding a new non-specific genderless pronoun would only serve to confuse. Referring to a person as "it" is demeaning, as "it" is for articles, and sub-human life-forms. Not appropriate to use with humans, it's insulting. Having friends who cross-dress and enter pageants for cross-dressers, I am good with referring to them as "they" as quite often they name their other persona...therefore being more than one individual! And whatever gender an individual identifies with, I will call them whatever they prefer to be referred to as. But I must say, when "Ban shakes their head" I do see a two-headed life form... |
Advert | |
|
09-01-2012, 03:38 PM | #138 | |
Grand Master of Flowers
Posts: 2,201
Karma: 8389072
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Naptown
Device: Kindle PW, Kindle 3 (aka Keyboard), iPhone, iPad 3 (not for reading)
|
Quote:
I do find it very interesting sociologically, though. |
|
09-01-2012, 03:52 PM | #139 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,507
Karma: 306214458
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
|
|
09-01-2012, 04:00 PM | #140 | |
Grand Master of Flowers
Posts: 2,201
Karma: 8389072
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Naptown
Device: Kindle PW, Kindle 3 (aka Keyboard), iPhone, iPad 3 (not for reading)
|
Quote:
I assume that there is no "bartendress" because bartenders were traditionally always male. "Stripper" is interesting; even though the term applies to women by default it ends in -er, presumably at a time where -er lost the masculine connotation it once had. The male version is "male stripper" (and this is an area where the distinction is more important than in most other fields): a waiter or a waitress can provide you with equally good service, but I don't think that male and female strippers are interchangeable in that way. I still occasionally see prosecutrix used, but only in the term "rape prosecutrix," and not to distinguish between male and female prosecuting attorneys. |
|
Advert | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Telling time in U. K. English | SeaBookGuy | General Discussions | 424 | 07-26-2012 04:22 AM |
Spanish libraries adopt ebook lending | DMcCunney | News | 0 | 02-28-2011 09:17 PM |
Will Kindle ever adopt an ePub format? | tkingny | Which one should I buy? | 24 | 12-25-2009 09:38 AM |
Adopt a Word | Andybaby | Lounge | 1 | 01-31-2009 05:53 PM |
OverDrive to Adopt epub | jasonkchapman | News | 2 | 12-14-2007 02:38 PM |