RE: FW: the old insure ensure assure

["Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>]

I've done some technical writing in Hebrew, where the default gender is
male. Consider the sentence, "If you press the red button, the computer
will collapse in a steaming pile of debris." In Hebrew, this sentence
usually addresses the male "you," with the understanding that it's meant
for women as well.

You can make the sentence address both genders, with an effect similar
to "s/he" in English. But the effect in Hebrew is more pronounced, since
technical writing so often addresses the second person.

And then there are the genders assigned to inanimate objects: The
monitor screen and mouse are male, the keyboard and printer are female,
etc.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Neilson
> Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 4:31 PM
> To: voxwoman
> Cc: Downing, David; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: FW: the old insure ensure assure
> 
> What is done in Spanish and French where gender of nouns is 
> totally unavoidable?...
> 

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