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Subject:RE: he/she From:"Nancy Smith" <smithcds -at- ici -dot- net> To:"'Robert E. Garland'" <robert -at- jtan -dot- com>, "'TECHWR-L, a list for all technical communication issues'" <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sat, 27 Nov 1999 11:42:09 -0500
I like either changing sentences to plurals
(requires attention to all sorts or details) or
using "he or she" which would be an easy global
replacement to make. I don't like the solutions that
use slashes at all. But, y'know, that's my personal
preference!
Nancy
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-10572 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-10572 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On
Behalf Of Robert E.
Garland
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 7:56 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: he/she
OK, so he is correct English, and she is often
politically correct.
The best solution I ever saw to this dilemna was in
an after-market
computer book, title forgotten. The author used he
in odd chapters and
she in even chapters, or maybe it was the other way
around.
As a reader, it would be nice to have the entire
document stick to one
or the other, but this author had a solution that
worked for (his? her?)
audience. You may notice that I no longer remember
the gender of the
author. I have also seen works where the gender in
each paragraph was
selected at random. Perhaps the dictum "know your
audience" applies
here, but IT is one area where women are well
represented. Use of
either he or she to the exclusion of the other will
get you in trouble.
Anyone have a solution to this one? Yes, "the user"
can get old
quickly.
--
Robert Garland Amateur
Radio Station NX3S
Hilltown Township Bucks County
Grid FN20ii
Pennsylvania USA
robert -at- jtan -dot- com
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