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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: Chuzzlewit who wrote (2249)3/27/1999 7:47:00 AM
From: Jack Clarke  Read Replies (1) of 4711
 
CTC:

I agree with your feelings in general about gender/sex and use of their as a grammatically incorrect surrender to political correctness. I never use "their" in the singular. But I must say that there is an intellectually honest case for doing what you and I don't like:

uts.cc.utexas.edu

Again, maybe you and I are too rigid, having been taught some very rigid rules based on classical Greek and Latin constructions which should never have been extrapolated into our language.

Also, one slightly picky point regarding the German constructions. "Mädchen" is indeed the word for girl and neuter. Greek has a similar construction ("to koritzi"). They tell me that this is so because young children are "sexless", but who knows why it is. Your point is that gender (a grammatical concept) is not always related to maleness or femaleness, and I agree. My son once heard someone say that a young woman had been discriminated against "because of her gender". His response: "Well at least it wasn't because of her declension." But back to my German picky point. Man with only one "n" is the form for "one, people" rather than the noun Mann with double "n". They are pronounced the same. At least that's the way I remember it.

Best,

Jack
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