Political Correctness Re: Manmonth or Peoplemonth?

["Eric L. Dunn" <edunn -at- TRANSPORT -dot- BOMBARDIER -dot- COM>]

As a technical writer, I would have to ask what is wrong with man-hour? Use
person hours if you must (would work hours be better?), but who is asking
for the change? A great many people are grown up enough to realise that in
the english language Man (as a species) includes both male and female
genders. Or that when the gender is unknown the male gender is used. If you
see a gender issue in man-hours, the problem lies with your own perception
and not the word. (If you have 2 men and 2 women, all on the police force,
how many policemen do you have? Answer:4)
Unless the dictionary specifically defines a position as one only for a man
(or action by a man), use it as gender neutral. For example, chairman,
fireman, policeman, etc. If a term is industry accepted why change it? But
I would argue if your dictionary does describe it as a gender specific task
or position, it's probably that the dictionary is out of date.

On another note, how is a man-month defined? Without knowing how many
workdays in a month and how many hours in a day, how do you define the
term?

Eric L. Dunn


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