[TheForge] PC-ness Grammatical Pet Peeve Rant - Way OT

[Ron Childers]

Bruce,

Many perfectly good English words have been hijacked for other totally
unrelated purposes and have now become a part of our routine lexicon. Take
Computers for instance: firewall, default, tools, windows, virus, recycle
bin, mouse, etc. 

Long ago in a galaxy far away pot was a vessel in which one cooked, rendered
lard, scalded hawgs or washed clothes. Dope was the dumbest kid in 3rd grade
and Marijuana was the cute little Cuban girl who lived across from Miss
Mattie's store. Smack was a kiss or a slap, gay meant happy, and crystal was
glassware which a kid dare not touch. The list seems endless.

Btw, do you know (approximately) how many words are in the English language?
(Not counting the esoteric, scientific and medical, etc?)

Some of the most wretched slang and misused verbal garbage are now
"accepted" as a part of everyday speech, especially by the media and
so-called celebrities. I, mean, I'm going like, you know, like, totally
awesome... <gurrrrr>

You would probably rather hear fingernails screeching on a blackboard- oh,
that's right- no real chalk boards anymore.

Just curse under your deep breath and take out your frustration on some
red-hot iron.

Ron C

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:52 PM
To: theforge
Subject: [TheForge] PC-ness Grammatical Pet Peeve Rant - Way OT

You guys surely don't deserve this rant, but I gotta
vent somewhere!

(Climbing onto my soapbox, preparing to be pedantic.)

"Gender" is NOT a synonym for "sex."  (And "sex" is a
noun, not a verb, that refers to a biological
attribute, not to coitus.)  I am of the male sex.  I
don't HAVE a gender.  

Pronouns and possessive adjectives have gender.  In
many foreign languages the nouns have genders too. 
But people and animals do not have genders.  

With all the overt sexuality in this society, why did
"gender" ever get plucked out of the dictionary as a
euphamism for the word "sex" that even the Victorians
freely used?  

I suspect it was a seconday error from the "he/she"
fiasco.  "He/she" is not a grammatical construction
and is totally unnecessary.  The proper pronoun is
"he," NOT because we don't respect women, but because
"he" includes women.  Why?  Because "he" is MASCULINE,
not MALE.  

Masculine, in this sense, is a grammatical attribute,
and has nothing to do with sex.  Anglophones may not
appreciate that because "he" and "she" are so closely
associated with the male and female sexes in English. 


That's NOT TRUE in other languages.  "Madchen,"
(literally, "little maid" in German) is NEUTER, but do
a google image search on the word and you'll agree
there's nothing neuter about the photos that come up. 
But neuter is also a grammatical concept.  It has
nothing to do with sex.

Therefore, it's perfectly proper to speak of one of us
as "he," without disrepecting the ladies on theforge. 
Properly, a baby or an animal is "it," not "he" or
"she."  (That may be a stretch for new parents, but
for diners in a restaurant where IT is screaming - -
no stretch at all!)

(Climbing down from my soapbox.)

I don't know what set me off this morning.  One too
many "he/she"'s, one too many forms asking my "gender"
I guess! 

Bruce
NJ 



 
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