Gender-neutral language in state laws (UNCLASSIFIED)

Herb Stahlke hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 6 04:06:44 UTC 2013


Michigan, at least, gets it right:  Cheboygan.  Of course "boy" still
counts.

Herb


On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 2:16 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Gender-neutral language in state laws (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> And SHEboygan
>
> >
> > Of course there's egregious case of MANhattan.
> >
> >
> > Michael Newman
> > Associate Professor of Linguistics
> > Queens College/CUNY
> > michael.newman at qc.cuny.edu
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 4, 2013, at 6:30 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > ----------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Gender-neutral language in state laws
> > >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > ---------
> > >
> > > And of course, from "woman." And the "son" from "person."
> > >
> > > I seem to have lived through this at least 37 years ago.
> > >
> > > The price of paranoia is eternal vigilance.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 6:20 PM, Hollis Barnhart
> > <hbarnhart at highlands.com>wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       Hollis Barnhart <hbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
> > >> Subject:      Re: Gender-neutral language in state laws
> > >>
> > >>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > >> ----------
> > >>
> > >> 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
> > >>> -----------------------
> > >>> 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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> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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