nanog mailing list archives

Re: guys != gender neutral


From: Jo Rhett <jrhett () netconsonance com>
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:36:35 -0700

On Sep 27, 2012, at 11:36 AM, JC Dill wrote:
It's NOT helping to equivocate "guys" and "girls"!

*shrug* Sorry you are offended. Some are, most of my friends use those terms interchangeably. (I'm referring to friends 
of the female gender) Apparently some on the east coast get offended by this, but that post was to a tight audience who 
I knew well. I use 'boys' and 'guys' interchangeably too, and that probably offends someone. It's not sexism :)

I really wish folks would dig a bit deeper into the thesaurus to find appropriate words.  One can use a variety of 
gender neutral words with some simple re-writing.  Remember, it's perfectly OK to employ singular "they" as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they


I completely disagree. Abusing plural words causes confusion when trying to discuss topics and be specific about the 
numbers involved.

-- 
Jo Rhett
Net Consonance : net philanthropy to improve open source and internet projects.




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