Re: style (was stylus)

Luis Nadeau (nadeaul@nbnet.nb.ca)
Sat, 31 May 1997 20:06:06 -0300

At 5:38 PM -0300 97/05/30, Judy Seigel wrote:
>Luis has, I note more in sorrow than in anger, perpetrated one of the more
>annoying tricks of polite argument, or rather *several* in one breath --
>not to mention having his wildly-off-the-mark say, then suggesting that
>the discussion is over: reply off list!

For two reasons: A- The debate does not really belong here (though now
we're stuck with it) and B- It is clear that many people feel inhibited
about this since they are automatically branded anti-feminist the moment
they dare say that they are not in love reading or writing s/he 50 times a
page. More on this later.

...
>
>First and most obvious, Luis answered a question other than the one asked.
>The question Dave asked was will *people* mind if he says "he" for
>everyone. Since I am well qualified to speak as one of the group "people"
>I replied that, yes I do mind, and out of the kindness of my heart added

Correction right there! You wrote:

>You betcha we will. Here are some strategies writers faced with this
>problem have ...

You said "*we* will". This is where the essence of the problem lies. You
are speaking as if you owned this list, as if you were speaking for the
world, as if you were culturally superior and in a position to dictate the
world how to speak properly. Phooey!

More, much more, in my next post.

Luis

P.S. To Americans with .edu suffix in their e-mail addresses and who have
expressed concerns over the anonymity of their comments made to me: don't
worry. Your names will be kept confidential. BTW folks, I welcome further
comments offlist as everything I have received so far is from males. Your
anonymity is guaranteed so feel free to tell me what's on your mind.