[Ads-l] "man" avoidance

[Jonathan Lighter]

Some prefer the minimally informative "311 people": minimally informative
though, indeed, demanded by some recent socio-semantic hypotheses.  Others
prefer the more informative "309 men and two women."

No one seems to care for "309 non-African-American men and two
non-African-American women, all over the age of 18," etc.

TMI.


JL







JL



On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 11:01 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> << "man" avoidance" ... gender ... 309 men and two women>>
> How Claire Chennault fits into all this is another question. My guess it
> was either a case of the Moulan Complex, or [wait for it] ... the Boy Named
> Sue Syndrome. Not that I'm being judgmental, but it does make ya wonder ...
>  (I.e. maybe it was 308 to 3?)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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