virus: gender neutral langauge

Schneider John (JSCHNEID@hanoverdirect.com)
Tue, 3 Dec 1996 01:39:46 -0500


Eva wrote:
> (*) I use the Spivak system of gender-neutral personal pronouns
> in my writing. The forms 'E, em, eir, eirs, emself' correspond
> to the forms 'They, them, their, theirs, themselves', but are
> singular. If you think this is silly or a lost linguistic cause,
> you should hear me speak Esperanto.

I usually use 'one' and its variants. (The French do this with
'on', a commonly used term... for some reason, using 'one' a
lot in English tends to make one sound 'snobby', and has fallen
out of common usage... I think it may make a comeback in this
age of political correctness.)

- JPS
- jschneid@hanoverdirect.com