Re: Fighter Jocks.

On Sat, 21 Feb 1998 17:00:31 -0800, John Leary <realjtl@sj.bigger.net>
wrote:

>Sam,
>     I do not intend to be offensive, keep this in mind.
>I do have an 'intense dislike' for PC (political correctness).
>
>     The default value for 'Human' is masculine in the English,
>American, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand languages.
>(as well as many not listed here).

Actually, what Sam wrote is grammatically, and sylistically, correct.
The problem is that English doesn't have a neutral gender indefinite
pronoun, while most languages do. If you are not sure of the gender,
traditionally you use the male pronoun. However, use of the female
pronoun is not incorrect.

Maybe it's politically correct, but it doesn't bother me. If it helps
to "de-marginalize" women, than I'm for it.

One other thing: it was Sam's example. Sam COULD have been talking
about a female pilot, in which case his example isn't even politically
correct, it is just simply correct. I assumed that he was talking
about a female pilot...

Allan Goodall	     agoodall@sympatico.ca

"Once again, the half time score, 
 Alien Overlords: 142,000. Scotland: zip."
  - This Hour Has 22 Minutes