Re: Debian New Maintainer Guide 0.1
On Sat, 14 Nov 1998, Lyno Sullivan wrote:
> Writing is something I like to do so I can provide small feedback there. I
> recommend you change "guy" to "person". See
> <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/26.html> for a nice little how-to on
> avoiding sexist language. If you would like to add a paragraph to your
> article about maintainers needing to remember to write in a non-sexist
> style, I would gladly do the research to find a good, permanent URL.
> Alternatively, perhaps Debian docs could simply copy the URL from Purdue to
> Debian, since its free use is permitted. I don't know the best way to
> handle it, but I think a paragraph in your Guide and a URL, on "Non-sexist
> Language" would be very appropriate.
That sort of squabbling about whether 'he', 'man' exclude
females keeps many English professors fed, but the issue is entirely
subjective, since these words have traditionally have been used for
gender-neutral situations.
IMHO, if anybody feels the need to note that something can be
performed by both males and females, a note at the top of the document
to that effect would be sufficient. However anti-'sexism' has brought us
such wonderful things in the English language like 'womyn', 'herstory',
and monstrosities like 'man/frau', 'BenutzerInnen' in German.
Greetings,
Michael.
Objection overruled, Mr Cochran! "White Christmas"
does not have any racist overtones!
-- Lance Ito
Michael Stroucken stroucki@guild.net mstrouck@nyx.net Mud+IRC: Stroucki
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