Chairman or chairwoman?

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:57 PM -0800 11/5/06, GLL wrote:
>: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>:
>: Let's simply spread the use of the English equivalent of Latin _vir_,
>
>I think it's easier to push back by preserving what we already use
>successfully ('he' is fine for a singular, gender indeterminate pronoun) than
>to invent something new and cumbersome to replace something which is new and
>equally inappropriate
>
>My wife and I both find 'they' as a singular jarring, and when the subject is
>broached we respond that it's still acceptable in English grammar for the
>masculine to subsume the feminine. Personally when I see 'they' as a singular
>my evaluation of the writer's maturity and subject competence drops sharply.


So much the worse for Chaucer, Shakespeare, et al.  But it's nice to
have standards.

LH


>I also take 'points off' for writers who mix up 'blond' and 'blonde.'
>
>As for 'actor/actress,' there was a comedian about 25 years ago who dug into
>these gendered words; he asked whether an oyster should pine for his
>oystress.
>
>I don't think I would use 'editrix' or 'aviatrix' in my own natural, informal
>speaking, but as a nautical term I *might* try 'pilotess' if the subject
>arose.
>
>- GLL
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org