[Ads-l] "man" avoidance

[Robin Hamilton]

I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with both Jon and
Flourish, though neither seem to be quite agreeing with the other.

*My* problem with this thread is that it's generating too many off-spins in my
head, which I don't have time to trace, since I have to have the Norris Murder
solved by midnight on Wednesday.

But briefly, on Jon's TMI, since it's, I'd agree [think! --"agree" is a
weasel-way of levering an unwarranted statement about the motives of the
original speaker into the dialogue], an Important Issue.

When is TMI not TMI?

Reason I say this, is that seconds before I write this, I'd spent more time than
it deserved on the following footnote:

"ESTC Citation No. R177278, via the British Library (http://estc.bl.uk).  Future
references, where appropriate, will be given in the form, "ESTC [NUMBER].  The
English Short Title Catalogue usefully provides full publication details of,
among other things, the physical format of the work, in this case, "1 sheet ([2]
p.) ;  1/2⁰," which expands to, "A two-page work printed on both sides of a
single folio sheet."

TMI or EI?  You tell me, sunny jim.

Robin

> 
>     On 25 September 2016 at 23:34 Flourish Klink <flourish.klink at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Well, I agree with just about everything you just said; I don't *think*
> I've
>     been arguing on the part of the "PC police," nor that I've been expressing
>     support of that sort of language-patrolling; so perhaps we really have
>     exhausted the subject!
> 
>     On Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 6:32 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>     wrote:
> 
>     > > neatly shuts down what I thought was an enlightening conversation
>     >
>     > Obviously not, since this is an open forum catering to opinionated
>     > enthusiasts, who may be expected to chime should they wish to. But I
>     > can't
>     > think of anything more to say, myself.
>     >
>     > But as for general enlightenment, let me repeat the line about "recent
>     > socio-semantic hypotheses," with the emphasis on "hypotheses." I'll even
>     > suggest churlishly that one function of such hypotheses is, at least in
>     > certain cases, to afford powerless sociolinguists a fun feeling of real
>     > power over language and the people who use it, along with the ego-boost
>     > that they're somehow building a better future. (What far-right satirist
>     > could have dreamed up a university that slaps a trigger-style warning on
>     > "you guys" when - no secret - plenty of women now say it to each other?)
>     >
>     > The most important linguistic lesson I learned as an undergraduate was,
>     > "Language isn't logical; it's psychological."
>     >
>     > I.e., isn't consistent, isn't fully rational, and - except for robots -
>     > can't be made so.
>     >
>     > JL
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > On Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 9:57 AM, Flourish Klink
>     > <flourish.klink at gmail.com>
>     > wrote:
>     >
>     > > Well, that neatly shuts down what I thought was an enlightening
>     > > conversation (or anyway, a conversation in which I discovered some
>     > > things
>     > > about English, even if I never came to agree with you).
>     > >
>     > > There's a joke in here about gender and being "stabbed by a point,"
>     > > but
>     > > damned if I can find it.
>     > >
>     > > On Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 9:06 AM Jonathan Lighter
>     > > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>     > >
>     > > wrote:
>     > >
>     > > > 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
>     > > >
>     > >
>     > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>     > > 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
>     >
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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