Re: Evolving language or laziness?

[Maria Hunt <huntma -at- LIMS -dot- COM>]

At 10:43 AM 3/14/96, I responded privately to Tim Altom about a sentence he
wrote:

>>"Many companies are now scuttling into cobwebby holes to avoid confronting
>>angry feminists over "his" as the indefinite pronoun."

>Tim, the only time I become an "angry feminist" is when I read a sentence
>like the one above.  It seems to me that the "generally-accepted guidelines"
>for writing in this list is to avoid offending its readers.  I'm sure I'm
>not the only who cringed when reading that sentence.  I hope in the future
>you can avoid such statements.


Then, Tim you responded to me publically:
>>More detail please, Maria. What I wrote was the truth, and was not
>>intentionally written to offend anyone. However, I can't tell how you've
>>been offended unless you supply a little more detail...


Tim, the message I sent to you was private.  You should have responded to me
in private instead of to the list.
I will not waste my time trying to explain to you why referring to feminists
as angry is offensive.

--Maria Hunt
recently promoted, pregnant, and getting ready to take my company-paid
maternity leave
--------------------------------------------------------
Maria Picollelli Hunt,  Sr. Technical Writer
(huntma -at- lims -dot- com)      (518) 274-1990 ext.174
Laboratory MicroSystems, Troy, NY 12180
My views do not necessarily reflect those of Laboratory MicroSystems.