Re: FW: the old insure ensure assure

[Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

Wendy wrote:
> Gah. I would say "I occupy the booth" instead of verbing "person."
> (Actually, I don't have a problem with booths being manned). And I came up
> with the phrase "the sibship of people" instead of "the brotherhood of man"
> for a High-School social studies paper, during a protracted bout of
> feminism.
> 
> "Manos" is also the title of possibly the worst film ever made.
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/
> (and also one of the best Mystery Science 3000 episodes ever made).

What is done in Spanish and French where gender of nouns is totally 
unavoidable? Are those languages inherently sexist? Or is the whole 
argument conveniently swept under the carpet?

In Danish, where nouns are of two genders, common and neuter, the 
seamanship phrase "All hands on deck" appears to be more sexist than 
English, "Alle mand paa daek" (or more precisely, alle mand på dæk). 
Oops, I guess that's supposed to be seapersonship.

When I first learned this stuff, it was correct to say, "Everyone has 
his own way of saying things," and to say "everyone has their own way" 
was an error, with points off for bad grammar. Now we seem to have the 
opposite.

"The brotherhood of man" leads directly to the consideration of the 
Fatherhood of God, and that takes us to the Trinity and the question of 
whether to say, "the Parent, the Child and the Holy Ghost/Ghostess."

Am I being too Friday? Is it time to sink the seapers-on-ship?
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