November 03, 2008

Get over it.

From Strunk and White, which is considered by most professors to be the Bible of grammar.

"The use of he as a pronoun for nouns embracing both genders is a simple, practical convention rooted in the beginnings of the English language."

So get over it already. All men ought to be able to tell that using he to mean a male or female is perfectly rational, not exclusive, and simply part of our heritage of Western culture.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Lady W said...

Hear, hear.

Now, in Hungarian, there is only one word for he/she/it... ^_^

November 04, 2008 5:13 PM  
Blogger The Sojourner said...

Amen!

I developed the habit of using the neutral masculine whenever possible just because it annoys people so much. For instance, when I talk about my first job I'll often say, "Back when I was a paperboy..."

November 06, 2008 8:44 PM  

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