Gender-neutral language in state laws

[Hollis Barnhart]

I would have also removed the man from hu.

Hollis Barnhart
 On Feb 4, 2013 5:25 PM, "Benjamin Barrett" <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Gender-neutral language in state laws
>
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>
> According to the Seattle Times =
> (http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020282616_genderneutralxml.html
> ),=
>  Washington is the third state to do a complete overhaul of its laws to =
> effectuate gender neutrality.
>
> Among the interesting changes (see also =
> http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020282625_gendersidexml.html):
>
> "his" -> "his or her" (perhaps this sequence was selected to match "he =
> or she")
> fisherman -> fisher
> freshman -> first-year student
> (railway) fireman -> fire tender
> longshoreman -> longshore worker
> man's cause -> person's cause
> man's past -> humankind's past
> ombudsman -> ombuds (despite it being a borrowing, "-man" appears to =
> mean "man" in Swedish (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/man#Swedish) and =
> has the appearance of gender bias in English)
> penmanship -> handwriting
> sportsmanship -> sporting/hunting behavior
>
> Excluded from change for concerns about confusion:
> manhole
> manlock
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA=
>
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