Illinois bans male pronoun

[Jonathan Lighter]

Very immature humor, George.

  The correct term is "penslingership."

  JL

George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: George Thompson
Subject: Re: Illinois bans male pronoun
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure we all wish that our schools would go back to teaching good
penpersonship.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard"
Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 8:52 pm
Subject: Re: Illinois bans male pronoun

> About 15-20 years ago there was a government directive ordering
> local government agencies (or at least agencies in one particular
> locale) to avoid gender specific terminology. The city fathers--
> perhaps mothers too--noticed the word "manhole" in one of the
> city's documents about its streets and in all seriousness changed
> it to "personhole." This was picked up by newspapers from coast to
> coast and by lighthearted radio broadcasters, with resultant
> widespread giggling. The city fathers/mothers were not at all
> amused. They had dutifully complied with a government regulation
> and did not appreciate being the butt of merriment for their
efforts..
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Dennis Baron
> Sent: Tue 1/2/2007 9:19 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Illinois bans male pronoun
>
>
>
> It's the season for banning. And there's a new post about banning
> male pronouns on the Web of Language:
>
> "The University of Illinois has banned the male pronoun. Starting
> Jan. 2, 2007, all print and web-based publications, whether for
> audiences inside or outside the university, must follow the rules
> laid out in the style guide published by the university's Office
> of
> Public Affairs. And in the section on nonsexist language, the
> style
> guide tells us:
>
> Avoid gender-specific language such as the use of a male pronoun.
>
> There it is in plain English: we may no longer refer to anyone's
> gender specifically. . . . "
>
> Read more about what's wrong with style guides at the Web of
Language:
>
> or paste this URL into your browser:
>
> http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
> Happy (nonsectarian) holidays.
>
> DB
>
>
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English
> University of Illinois
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
>
> office: 217-244-0568
> fax: 217-333-4321
>
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>
> read the Web of Language:
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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