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Re: Gender neutral - any new developments in your neck of the woods?
Subject:Re: Gender neutral - any new developments in your neck of the woods? From:Paul DuBois <paul -at- kitebird -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 4 Mar 2003 17:12:55 -0600
> Kirsten Zerbinis wrote:
>
> >
> > Ah well, in the same landmark document in which the OED declared that
> > "they" is an acceptable third person neuter pronoun, they told
> > everyone it was okay to split the infinitive. It was an altogether
> > strangely progressive year for the OED.
>
> Not really. One of the strengths of the Oxford English Dictionary is
> that it has always been based on historical and linguistic principles.
> When the idea was first floated, the prospectus said something to the
> effect that the goal was not to set up a tyrant to officiate over
> language standards - or forty (a reference to the French Academy). That
> outlook has remained fairly constant. The OED has never been interested
> in telling people how to use the language; the goal is entirely to
> describe how the language is used. Since people are using "they" for a
> neuter pronoun and splitting the infinitive in print, the OED duly
> records the fact - that's all.
Perhaps. But when I recently got my new OED, I immmediately checked
and was immensely relieved to find that it does not have an entry
for "alot".
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