Seen of Facebook: "Proud to be an _alumni_ [of UC Davis]!" [NT]

victor steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 15 13:21:37 UTC 2011


In that case, I'll go with the aluminum option. It's probably too much to
ask for aluminium... ;-)

Besides, it's "spayed or neutered"--as any vet will tell you--so you still
have that same problem of having to choose gender. The proper genderless
term is "fixed".

VS-)

On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Alumnum applies only when he or she has been spayed.
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 7:20 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> >
> > So you're saying it could be dumber than we thought.
> >
> > I'd choose "alumnum."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 5:44 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> > >wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > When it comes to "alumni", sometimes it's used to avoid "sexist"
> > > distinctions. Sort of an equivalent of a generic "they".
> > >
> > > VS-)
>

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