>You must have studied English a l-o-o-o-ng time ago -- when
>the male was still considered normative...
That was back when my English instructor pointed out that the use of "man"
at the end of many, though not all, nouns was from the Latin "manare" for
hand, as in "manual." Thus a work*man* was someone who worked with their
hands. Thus it had nothing to do with the sex of the person. Gender, by the
way, in the old days, only correctly applied to words, not people. People
have "sex" not gender. We've changed that around recently -- probably due
with the uncomfortable feelings we have about the word "sex."
Stephen Pinker the famous language expert at MIT, author of the Language
Instinct, Morrow, 1994, and heir to Chomsky's throne, disagrees with the
idea that the changing of language will change attitudes or actions. Pinker
did a lecture here in Santa Fe put on by the Santa Fe Institute (Murray
Gell-Mann founded it)and was booed when he covered this point in his
lecture. He is able to site a number of studies that prove his point, while
the booers just booed. Pinker appears to be following no other agenda but
that of serving science. I don't think he is a Neo Nazi and fort all other
purposes appears to be a pretty progressive fellow, especially if you
factor in his mentor Noam Chomsky One point however, he is a man (I was
going to say male as it sounds so much more scientific) and that might make
is position suspect in some circles.
Get out your pitchforks folks!
Dick
Bostick & Sullivan
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