Whats with s/he all the time?

In the bad old days “she” referred to the wifie, or womankind and “he” referred to the mankind. This much we all think we know.

But mankind referred to man and woman.

What I’m trying to get at is that women are at it again. They have (had) a perfectly good term that described just them, and then they all go and pretend it describes just men and get all huffy about it and insist that anyone who doesn’t write s/he or say “chair-person” is being sexist! Pardon!?

I’ll use terms like mankind and chair-man and if you think it doesn’t mean women, then think again.

I tend to get out of it by saying their instead of his or hers but I draw the line at chairperson.

See the dictionary; if people (*cough* some women) want to take offence at their own ignorance, I’ll let them - to do otherwise would be patronising, and patronising women is an even greater crime!

When asked “didn’t I mean chairperson?” I say “no I didn’t; and rather than pander to the ignorant we should educate them. Chairman does not refer to gender but to authority; and the deference of men has restrained any complaint on their part, unlike their false accusers who claim offence when there is none either in fact or intent.”

The consequence of which, women now have to stand up on the buses or trains, unless they look pregnant. If any female readers have got this far and recollect a case where no man offered a seat to a pregnant passenger, realise that they were probably chewed out once too often by someone who merely looked pregnant.

See the usage note and ponder your own position.

This has recently come up on Groklaw. The main idea is “stop whining, did you really think I meant male when I said he?

Nagging does not work on an individual or mass scale, so stop nagging.