Dave, don't fret. Judy is not speaking for everybody on this list. There
are lots of countries, cultures and at least two genders represented on
this list and believe me, opinions vary. There is no law that says one
method has to be used anymore than there is a law saying that "metre" is
the right way to spell "meter" because this is what we use in Canada and
this list is running off a Canadian listserver. "We", (well, many of us as
I don't speak for everybody either) can also live with colour, color,
liter, litre, favor, etc. This list is about Alt-photo, not "political
correctness".
...
>2. Some writers use only the female pronoun in all circumstances, on the
>grounds that the male pronoun was used exclusively for so long, it's only
>fair. (This is my least favorite option; I never thought two wrongs make a
>right.)
Fine. I wouldn't lose any sleep over that practice either as long as they
don't try to impose it upon me.
>3. In some conditions the "pronoun" can be written as "s/he", which I
>think is pretty neat, but a lot of other people don't.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
No kidding! The understatement of the year. YUK!!! is how an American
professor (PhD English) summed it up after a recent discussion on this
topic on Book_Arts_list. While we're at it, why not combine she/he/it and
shorten it to "sheheit" or even something shorter since anything goes with
the English language? This said, I never objected to Judy using "s/he" even
though I certainly have my own opinion about it. I have no right to tell
her what to do anymore than she has the right to tell me what to do. People
can use whatever they want as far as I'm concerned but if they come to tell
me their way is the only way they'll have to justify their cultural
superiority complex and I wish them good luck because they'll need it,
whoever they are.
This reminds me of a somewhat similar situation when a small group tried to
influence the previous listowner (Steve) with their own view which they
wanted to impose on the rest of us. Steve's reply, if I recall, was
"Frankly, I'm Australian, and I don't give a damn".
In other words, if you want to impose your own cultural bias, start your
own list on your own server with your own rules.
>4. If you change construction to the plural, "they" solves the problem.
>In fact some folks "solve" the problem by saying "they" even with the
>singular verb, but that is also grating..
Ain't that pretty?
I welcome further comments directly to me as it has very little to do with
Alt-photo business.
Luis Nadeau
nadeaul@nbnet.nb.ca
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada