Re. X pronouns

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     Marta Cepek suggested "X" as a generic pronoun to
     replace the dreaded "s/he", to which Kris Olberg
     noted the xe (!) would never refer to someone in
     this manner. But Kris, don't you know that within
     a very few years, most of our audience will be
     generation X'ers? <grin> In the interest of
     neutrality, I'd second the motion that we refer to
     all faceless masses as X. <grin again>

     Seriously? I'd have to say that this "generic
     pronoun" stuff will never catch on until it
     becomes official government edict. Mind you, in
     Quebec, we _do_ have English language police,
     although their goal is to expunge English from
     public display rather than to enforce correct
     usage. No, I'm not kidding. <frown> (Not a trained
     writers/editor in the bunch to my knowledge, nor
     any demonstrable souls either... you can't see
     them sneaking up behind you using a mirror.)
     Perhaps they could help? <grin>

     BTW, is it my imagination that we've been getting
     almost as much spam as content these days? I've
     tried ignoring it, but that doesn't seem to make
     it go away. Maybe we just need to hire a good hit
     man ('scuse... a hit person?) or two, and hang a
     few corpses along the infobahn as a reminder? This
     approach seems to work well in protecting bird
     feeders from squirrels and other lower forms of
     life.

     --Geoff Hart    @8^{)}
     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

     Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one
     of our reports, it don't represent FERIC's
     opinion.