[Ads-l] Berkeley and gender neutral words

[Wilson Gray]

> the a priori belief that speakers of English are as sensitive to nuance as
> are a subset of people with Ph.Ds and must, in any case, be protected from
> "-man" words, which are dangerously, irremediably sexist and malign.

or, in the words of Rick Sanchez, "a white-people problem."

On Fri, Jul 19, 2019 at 11:45 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> See also, "Huntress."
>
> Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2019 6:16:23 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Berkeley and gender neutral words
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Berkeley and gender neutral words
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Goddess" is somehow doing well.
>
> The neutrality craze is based in part on the elementary fallacy that a
> word's meaning is dictated by its etymology.  Another significant basis is
> the a priori belief that speakers of English are as sensitive to nuance as
> are a subset of people with Ph.Ds and must, in any case, be protected from
> "-man" words, which are dangerously, irremediably sexist and malign.
>
> JL
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2019 at 8:42 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > > On Jul 19, 2019, at 8:01 PM, Mark Mandel <markamandel at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > The Latin means "No one is an heir or a living person.=E2=80=9D
> >
> > Mark=E2=80=99s finger meant =E2=80=9Cof=E2=80=9D rather than =E2=80=9Cor=
> =E2=80=9D; the claim as it stands is
> > rather too strong.  More seriously, I don=E2=80=99t get the argument to
> r=
> eplace
> > =E2=80=9Cheir=E2=80=9D, which is parallel to =E2=80=9Cactor=E2=80=9D and
> =
> arguably also to =E2=80=9Cpoet=E2=80=9D.  By all
> > means, let=E2=80=99s dump =E2=80=9Cheiress=E2=80=9D,
> =E2=80=9Cadventuress=
> =E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Cactress=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9Csculptress=E2=80=9D, or
> > =E2=80=9Cpoetess=E2=80=9D, although it could be (and has been) argued
> tha=
> t =E2=80=9Cactress=E2=80=9D
> > performs a service that the others don=E2=80=99t, at least until
> sex-neut=
> ral
> > casting becomes universal; the tradeoff for sex specification may be
> deem=
> ed
> > worth it.  =E2=80=9CWaitress=E2=80=9D is another case, and I grant we
> all=
>  have different
> > cutoff points. (Mine is rather different from Jon=E2=80=99s, for
> example.=
> )  But the
> > fact that =E2=80=9Cheiress=E2=80=9D can be plausibly argued to be sexist
> =
> on the grounds
> > that it marks sex of the referent when it=E2=80=99s irrelevant, I don=E2=
> =80=99t see why
> > that consideration should infect =E2=80=9Cheir=E2=80=9D, which as noted
> b=
> elow really is
> > just =E2=80=98one who=E2=80=99, on grounds of both usage and etymology.
> >
> > LH
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 4:35 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >>
> > >> The word [*heir*] is correctly applied to either a male or a female,
> > >> although,
> > >> in the latter sense, heiress n.   has been in general use since 17th
> > >> cent. In Law a person is not called an heir to any property until,
> > >> through the death of its possessor, he becomes entitled to it (
> > >> *nemo est heres viventis*).
> > >> [End excerpt]
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
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> >
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> >
>
>
> --=20
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-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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