Bug#263084: Please change sexist language in debian (English) webpages
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004, Matt Kraai wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 04, 2004 at 07:26:29PM -0700, Don Armstrong wrote:
> > On Wed, 04 Aug 2004, Tobias Toedter wrote:
> > > "This is to prevent the Project Secretary from missing a proposal
> > > in the huge volumes of mail generated on some of our lists and to
> > > prevent them from having to subscribe to each and every list
> > > created by the Project."
> > >
> > > The Project Secretary is just one person, not a group. Is it still
> > > correct to use "them"? I'm sorry to bother you with this, it's just
> > > that I've never seen or heard such sentences.
> >
> > That's definetly suboptimal in this case.
>
> Why?
Them (and to a lesser extent, they) tends to indicate the
singular. While they is becomming a more common replacement for a
class of people, when we're talking about a specific position, a
singular form is generally more appropriate... but I suppose you could
have grammarians arguing for millenia over this issue.
That's why I suggest punting and avoiding the issue entirely wherever
possible.
Anyway, it's just a suggestion. Do whatever you feel works best.
Don Armstrong
--
Of course Pacman didn't influence us as kids. If it did, we'd be
running around in darkened rooms, popping pills and listening to
repetitive music.
http://www.donarmstrong.com
http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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