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Political correctness

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You just get used to writing in a way that allows you to use 'you' 'they' etc, that way you avoid ever using he/she, problem the writers on TheSite have to deal with quite often.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Yes, it is preferable to talk of humankind or the human race rather than mankind.
    Yeah but man woman. There you go, mankind.:p
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So when you talk about a woman you are not suppose to use she anymore and he for a man?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    :yes:

    Or when I really can't do that in academic writing, I quite often just use "she", which is increasingly common as well.
    Yeah I've seen people do that. What's that about?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote:
    Yeah but man woman. There you go, mankind.:p

    :thumb:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    so woman is fine then? It just doesn't make any sense to me...
    It should have at least some consistancy...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Apparently some feminists jokingly use (at least I hope it's jokingly) the word hertory. That's history for women :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Didn't know he was use for men and women too...

    Mind you know english for few years only...

    French language is better in that respect for a lot of thing...

    Most job can be either feminin or masculin, and the one that aren't are feminin and we have "il" for he, "elle" for she and "on" for both...

    There is still some gramaticaly rules that said the masculin win over the feminin tho, but otherwise the language is pretty much quite equal for both sex...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Just that sometimes when I'm writing, I really can't use "you" or "they" and so I'll have to use either he or she, and "he/she" is rather awkward and unwieldy and can make the text quite disjointed. So I (and a lot of other academics) just use "she" as a generic feminine instead -- after all, "he" has been used for hundreds of years to refer to both men and women, so why not switch over?
    Just means they're not good enough writers. That's the problem with academics, they know a lot about the subject they're studying, doesn't mean they can write well about it. I couldn't stand reading my course books at uni, because most of them were poorly written. And what is it with academics and the ability to drag a single point out for three pages? Sorry for the rant, but I've gotta say that being an academic has got to be the most boring thing ever. I'm sure they only do it so they can spend the rest of their life partying with students and taking illegal substances without criticism.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mind you speaing of France again you hear no man complaining because some job are purely feminin... I think in France women have been more respected for longer as they played a huge part in the franch revolution...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Oi, I'm, an academic thanks very much :grump:
    I don't envy you at all. A lifetime of writing essays? :sour: No thanks.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We do have a word for he/she though- 'one', only it's obsolete now. Perhaps instead of reversing the balance by using 'she' where traditionally 'he' would have been used, we should use 'one'?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah, you're right, 'one' isn't obsolete but one does tend to aviod it for certain registers or tones though. So, maybe if we used it more it owul sound more 'natural' for less formal writing?

    ETA: on second thoughts- there are sentances where you would need to write he/she and 'one' wouldn't work so ignore the above. Maybe we could use/create a new word for he/she?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't really she what the big fuss is and why people get worked up over it.

    When you personify most things like vehicles and countries, you say "she," it's just the way the English language is, no point getting your knickers in a twist over.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Language is a lot more powerful at forming and cementing opinions and attitudes than most people realise or give it credit for. Making sure our language doesn't exclude or disrespect people is an important step in realising a fairer and more inclusive society generally, as many people who have been on the receiving end of offensive and derogatory terminology will tell you.

    So taking "man" and "she" from words makes society more inclusive for all? :confused:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    So taking "man" and "she" from words makes society more inclusive for all? :confused:
    it's a load o bollox.
    the world will carry on turning regardless ...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    No. But you can't claim to live in a fair and inclusive society that regards all social groups as equal if your language makes use of sexist or racist terminology, or excludes some groups.

    How so? As rolly has already said, the world will keep turning. I reckon we should just leave the language as it is.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sophia wrote:
    Languages are living things, they're fluid

    Erm...no they're not.
    sophia wrote:
    There's lots of offensive language that we don't use anymore because we have recognised how derogatory and damaging it is, and I bet you aren't complaining about that. You can't even type the N word in these forums for example, for obvious reasons.

    So you're comparing the N word with fireman and postman, are you on crack?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    Erm...no they're not.
    I think you just proved they are by using the word 'erm' in a sentence. If language isn't constantly changing, then why are we not still talking like they do in Shakespeare plays?
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