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  • Kate Swift died (7-5-2011)

    From Ross Clark@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 9 10:24:25 2024
    American writer, co-author (with Casey Miller) of _Words and Women_
    (1976) and _The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing_ (1980). I still have a
    copy of the latter somewhere. These books stood out from a lot of
    ill-informed rubbish that was being written and talked in the feminist
    critique of language at that time. They wrote realistic, practical
    advice from writers to other writers, non-accusatory in tone. Looking
    them up now, I am surprised to learn that both authors were more or less
    of my parents' generation (born 1923 and 1919). (Wikipedia carefully
    describes them as "publishing partners" and "platonic domestic partners".)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Swift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Miller

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  • From Adam Funk@21:1/5 to Ross Clark on Fri May 10 10:43:13 2024
    On 2024-05-08, Ross Clark wrote:

    American writer, co-author (with Casey Miller) of _Words and Women_
    (1976) and _The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing_ (1980). I still have a
    copy of the latter somewhere. These books stood out from a lot of ill-informed rubbish that was being written and talked in the feminist critique of language at that time. They wrote realistic, practical
    advice from writers to other writers, non-accusatory in tone. Looking
    them up now, I am surprised to learn that both authors were more or less
    of my parents' generation (born 1923 and 1919). (Wikipedia carefully describes them as "publishing partners" and "platonic domestic partners".)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Swift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Miller

    This quote from the second book is funny:

    "Knowing that he and his can be gender neutral, I shall no longer
    feel there is an odd image filtering through something like: 'The
    average American needs the small routines of getting ready for
    work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty
    hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the
    day.'...How liberating common sense can be."[5]

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handbook_of_Nonsexist_Writing#%22The_Pronoun_Problem%22>



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  • From Christian Weisgerber@21:1/5 to Adam Funk on Fri May 10 13:51:17 2024
    On 2024-05-10, Adam Funk <[email protected]> wrote:

    This quote from the second book is funny:

    "Knowing that he and his can be gender neutral, I shall no longer
    feel there is an odd image filtering through something like: 'The
    average American needs the small routines of getting ready for
    work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty
    hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the
    day.'...How liberating common sense can be."[5]

    Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage quotes one Albert
    Bleumenthal from the New York State Assembly:

    ... everyone will be able to decide for himself whether or not
    to have an abortion.

    --
    Christian "naddy" Weisgerber [email protected]

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  • From Athel Cornish-Bowden@21:1/5 to Christian Weisgerber on Fri May 10 17:18:45 2024
    On 2024-05-10 13:51:17 +0000, Christian Weisgerber said:

    On 2024-05-10, Adam Funk <[email protected]> wrote:

    This quote from the second book is funny:

    "Knowing that he and his can be gender neutral, I shall no longer
    feel there is an odd image filtering through something like: 'The
    average American needs the small routines of getting ready for
    work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty
    hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the
    day.'...How liberating common sense can be."[5]

    Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage quotes one Albert
    Bleumenthal from the New York State Assembly:

    ... everyone will be able to decide for himself whether or not
    to have an abortion.

    Apart frm "herself", which is probably what I would say, the word Mr
    Blumenthal was avoiding was probably "themself".

    --
    Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
    in England until 1987.

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