LL-L "Language change" 2002.09.14 (04) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 14.SEP.2002 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Leslie Decker <leslie at VOLNY.CZ>
Subject: LL-L "Language change" 2002.09.13 (13) [E]

I am writing this to comment about the use of 'they' as a non-gender
specific singular pronoun.  I got too confused trying to cut and paste the
snippets of past postings!

I have to say that as a younger (26 year-old) American English speaker,
'they' sounds completely natural to me.  This is not anything political,
although I am female.  As far as I'm concerned it's just the natural
progression of a language--it changes.  Some people may resist it, which is
well within their rights, but it may be futile.  I once had a linguistics
teacher say that this is comparable to 'you' being used as singular and
people who complain about 'they' should go back to 'thou.'  He was being
extreme to make a point, but it made me think.

I have often come across this question as a TEFL teacher, and I've told my
students the same thing.  Written English is a bit different, and I've told
them to use either 'he' or 'he or she,' whichever they prefer.  Either way
they'll probably annoy one person or another! :-)

Regarding the word 'data,' to me it's an uncountable noun, like
'information' or 'milk.'  I don't use a plural with it.

And Ron, don't despair, to me, phenomenon is a perfectly acceptable word,
the plural being either 'phenomena' or 'phenomenons.'

Regards,

Leslie Decker

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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at T-ONLINE.DE>
Subject: LL-L "Language change" 2002.09.13 (13) [E]

Ron wrote:

> A peeve of yours it may be, but it's standard now.  You'd be laughed out
of
> the country if you said "visum" and "datum".  I once said "phenomenon"
> outside academia.  People looked around.  "Huh?! Oh, he's foreign."

Oh yes - been there, done that, many times, until I was tired of standing
out as a foreigner by speaking "correct" English. But no, no, even if they
torture me, they're NOT going to get me to say "I'm gonna LAY on the
couch"!!! Always makes me want to check for eggs when they get up again.

These changes happen in German, too (again, it is in my nature to cringe on
occasion...). A pedal, as on a bicycle, is "das Pedal" - plural "die
Pedale". But many people now use "die Pedale" as the singular form, as if it
were female, and "die Pedalen" as the plural. This includes my daughter's
elementary school teacher and the two police officers who came to her school
for a bicycle safety course.

"Our Ron" was actually meant in the "familiar" way which is common in some
areas of Britain: "Our Johnny and our Sally are playing with Mrs. Taylor's
Maureen." But, of course, we'll always be willing to give reverence where
reverence is due...

Gabriele Kahn

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language change

Gabriele:

> "Our Ron" was actually meant in the "familiar" way which is common in some
> areas of Britain: "Our Johnny and our Sally are playing with Mrs. Taylor's
> Maureen."

Ah! OK, I'll take it.  I wasn't aware that "Our" was capitalized in such
contexts, so I was fighting off delusions of grandeur.

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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From: <travelershome at YAHOO.COM>
Subject: LL-L "Language change" 2002.09.13 (13) [E]

HOW VERY EXTRA-ORDINARY FOR A FEMALE TO THINK OF
HERSELF AS A MALE.  HOW VERY ODD.  PAMELA

[Pamela Pallessen-Scherehart ]

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