Re: Hypothetical Un-PC Questions....

Subject: Re: Hypothetical Un-PC Questions....
From: Herman Holtz <holtz -at- PALTECH -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 07:32:07 -0400

>On Wed, 7 Jun 1995 15:48:00 PDT you wrote:

>>In a "Programmer's Guide" that is to be used by future maintenance
>>programmers documenting the database. The database field name is
>>"indian_tribe" and the field description is "Indian tribe blah-de-dah".
>>
>>Should the writer tell the database guy that the database field name needs
>>to be changed because it isn't "Native American"?

>How about "Indiginous Peoples" or "First Nations Subdivision"? Personally,
>this is one area I think has gotten out of control. My wife, her parents, and
>half her grandparents were born in the USofA. How many generations does one
>have to go back before being "native"? My mother's family can be traced back
>to the McCoys (of "the Hatfields and the McCoys" fame). But, sorry ma, yer
>not really American, yer still an immigrant.


I found the whole business pretty silly a long time ago, when I got nasty
letter or two berating me for referring to women as "ladies" in a column I
wrote. I suppose that when one addresses an audience he or she should begin,
"Women and men." It hasn't been too difficult to use "mankind" in place of
"Man," but I have to struggle to find good substitutes for "salesmanship" or
"manhole cover."
***
Herman Holtz [holtz -at- paltech -dot- com] Marketing consultant, general and
technical writing services. Author 60+ books, including best-
selling How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant (John Wiley).
PO Box 1731, Wheaton, MD 20915. 301-649-2499; fax: 301-649-5745


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