🚀 go-pugleaf

   tony4%stretch.cs.mun.ca  (Anthony H. Galway) writes:

   As far as I know, using the masculine was always the proper way to refer
   to people when unsure which sex you will be dealing with. Only recently
   (last 10 or so years) has this nonsence of (s)he and such been accepted,
   and acceptance of a new way does not make use of the old way wrong or
   sexist.

Use of sexist language is a mistake.

In practice, children and many adults read `he' as referring to the
masculine, even though its use as a universal has been proclaimed by
schoolmarms for quite some time.  Thus, many who read

    `Ask user what to do when he wants to edit FILE ...'

will visualize `user' as male, few will visualize her as female.

The customs of everyday language, which separate `he' from `she',
overcome the conventions of book language, in which `he' is supposed
to include `she'.  (Of course, not everyone suffers this failing.)

An unfortunate consequence of sexist language is to pre-suggest who
may or may not do certain things, and to do this in a way that is not
always obvious.

At Project GNU, we do attempt to convert sexist language to non-sexist
language when we edit manuals, but we lack the resources to do as
immediate and thorough a job as I would like.  My hope is that after a
few more revisions and editions, we will have the GNU manuals in good
shape.

    Robert J. Chassell                   (413) 298-4725 or (617) 253-8568
    Rattlesnake Mountain Road         or (617) 876-3296 (for messages)
    Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA       bob@ai.mit.edu