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Jan Boomsliter wrote with regard to William E. Newkirk's
posting:
Jan:
>Using the pronoun "he" to refer to all people isn't "the standard."
>That's the point of this discussion.
======================
William:
>but that doesn't change the convention that using
>"he" instead of a complex, convoluted noun-name in an effort to
>refer to the reader is the standard.
......................
William is correct that "he" has been standard for centuries.
Jan is correct that this standard is no longer accepted by
many people, some because they hate it, others because they
fear retribution from the haters.
So the debate boils down to this: Who sets the standard?
That, my friends, is what the fracas is all about.
Live long & prosper,
Mike LaTorra
Documentation Supervisor
Accugraph Inc.
mikel -at- accugraph -dot- com
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The opinions expressed are my own, ][ "Politics is the business of
and not necessarily those of my ][ getting power and privilege
company -- but they probably ][ without possessing merit."
should be. ][ -- P.J. O'Rourke
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