Generic 'person'?

[Jeff Deby]

Hello all,

Right after lecturing on generic 'he' to my intro to sociolx class, I
discover that 18 October is Person's Day in Canada, commemorating the
date in 1929 when women qualified as Persons under Canadian law.

This is an odd idea: that 'person' can be a subset of itself, the way
'man' can in conservative idiolects, or 'gays'.  Has anyone any
knowledge of this usage elsewhere?  Particularly interesting would be a
variety of *spoken* English, no?

Details on the origin of Person's Day, for the history-minded:

http://www.stthomasu.ca/research/AHRC/PERSONS.HTM

Jeff
--

Jeff Deby
debyj at georgetown.edu