[Ads-l] Berkeley and gender neutral words

[Ben Zimmer]

On Thu, Jul 18, 2019 at 5:38 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> I would bet that most city and state codes have issues like Berkeley is
> addressing. Going through everything systematically is a large process.
>
> When Washington State went through this process (ADS list;
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-February/125267.html),
> the word “manhole” was left. It’s interesting to see that Berkeley has
> found an acceptable replacement.
>

Perhaps Berkeley got the idea from Toronto, which changed "manholes" to
"maintenance holes" in 1989, or Sacramento, which did the same in 1990.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34001570/manhole_toronto/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34001583/manhole_sacramento/

>From the latter article: "Asked how 'maintenance hole' was picked as the
term to replace 'manhole,' one public works official said it was a
practical decision: They won't have to change the 'MH' abbreviations
already in use on city utility maps."

--bgz

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