Man oh, man, did I ever have a rough day! Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a monkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uncle if I ever have a day like today. You see, Monday, Labor Day was a holiday. I went to the office to do some of Tuesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work on Monday, and there was no one available to man the office.<\/p>\n
Perhaps some 30 years ago, none of the above would have caused a ripple. Today, it seems, there are many who might argue that using all those masculine terms is offensive and sexist. http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/wp-admin\/post-new.phpThat makes it difficult to say or write anything.<\/p>\n
Let me unscramble what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just written. Today, without even being aware of it, there are many ways to offend \u00e2\u20ac\u201d even if the offense is inadvertent. The first paragraph uses the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d if only as an exclamation, along the lines of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153boy, oh boy!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153monkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uncle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d excludes females, and the final sentence turns the second usage of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d into a verb. I doubt many people agree to woman an office.<\/p>\n
Princeton University, one of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s finest Ivy League institutions, has recently come up with a list strongly encouraging students and staff to use guidelines issued by the Office of Human Resources. The guidelines urge gender-inclusive language in official HR communications.<\/p>\n
Gender-inclusive language \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is writing and speaking about people in a manner that does not use gender-based words when the gender is unknown or applies to a mixed gender group of individuals.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
So, according to new Princeton protocol, we are not to say or write, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Each participant presents his ID badge at the door.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Now Princetonians had better change the sexing of the sentence to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Participants present their ID badges at the door.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Or if it becomes necessary to speak or write something like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The incumbent edits a variety of documents and s\/he prepares weekly updates,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we ought to change that to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The incumbent edits a variety of documents and also prepares a weekly update.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Princeton is not the only institution attempting to de-sex the language. Many forms of correspondence virtually require him or her to treat gender as if it were something to be avoided.<\/p>\n
When I was still in the classroom, I served on a Highlands University Discipline Committee, which acted on concerns involving students. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d recommend solutions such as apologies, disciplinary actions, suspensions and even expulsion for the alleged offenders. But the chairman (er \u00e2\u20ac\u201d chairperson) of the committee never seemed to be forthcoming with the offenders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 name or sex. Rather, the man or woman who served as chairperson of the committee would use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153individual.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hmm. Using five syllables when just one would do….<\/p>\n
My concern is that the English language has been around for centuries, subject to some modifications. And apparently those seeking to be offended get their wish.<\/p>\n
In my church, the simple Doxology, sung after the offertory, once used \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God\u00e2\u20ac\u009d only in the opening stanza, followed by two stanzas using the subject as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t politically correct, as we needed to make the chant gender-neutral, so we used \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God\u00e2\u20ac\u009d three times, as if we were referring to three different deities.<\/p>\n
As for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d used as a verb, above, the Princeton guidelines would urge changing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153staff,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so we now avoid that wretched reference to males.<\/p>\n
Suppose we make a list of words that incorporate the male of the species. We find words like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cameraman,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153foreman,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153chairman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fireman.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Some of the terms can be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fixed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by trading the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d part to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153person.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fireperson\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Unlikely. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where we throw in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153firefighter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Webster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s has a host of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d-containing words that may imply only the male of the species. Can we use \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mandate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153manufacture\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153manhandle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d without slighting people?<\/p>\n
Trying to be fair, I searched for references to gender in both spoken and written forms. The web sites, while surprisingly similar to one another, justifiably encourage men and women to use gender neutrality and thus avoid \u00e2\u20ac\u0153masculinizing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the language or suggesting society is male-dominated.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, consider usages in other languages, Spanish, for example. Unlike English, the Latinate Spanish language provides a gender to every noun in that language. The genders in Spanish are simple and easy to follow, with a few exceptions in which people say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153la mapa,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d la dia\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153el noche.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But what about German, which contains three genders: feminine, masculine and neuter?<\/p>\n
I contend that human behavior exists as it does irrespective of the kind of gender we place on words in any language. To me, using \u00e2\u20ac\u0153chairman\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as opposed to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153chairperson\u00e2\u20ac\u009d comes more as a matter of habit than of social status, preference or dominance.<\/p>\n
The inspiration for this subject came from a very recent meeting with a student I had at Highlands almost 35 years ago. The meeting became Part 2. On both occasions, the individual became irate as s\/he was reminded of the heated gender-based discussion the individual and I had in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s. In that human\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, I realized he\/she was determined to avoid any reference to gender.<\/p>\n
In a torrid 20-minute discussion, I realized he\/she never once used any terms that would identify people as male or female.<\/p>\n
I for one like the grammar of the English language, but if you hear me slip, by saying, for example, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The proper study of mankind is man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d instead of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The proper study of personkind is persons,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to bring it to my attention.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Se cree mucho\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an expression I used in last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s column to suggest haughtiness. Sara Harris, a former Highlands colleague, wrote to say she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d both heard and used something similar, while in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Sara cited variations: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Se cree la gran cosa\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that triggered still another expression, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Se cree la mam\u00c3\u00a1 de Tarz\u00c3\u00a1n.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sara added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why that? I sure don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I read the first expression as akin to calling oneself \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the big cheese.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And the other? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tarzan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Man oh, man, did I ever have a rough day! Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a monkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uncle if I ever have a day like today. You see, Monday, Labor Day was a holiday. I went to the office to do some of Tuesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work on Monday, and there was no one available to man the office. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1550,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}