nanog mailing list archives

Re: guys != gender neutral


From: Ben Bartsch <uwcableguy () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:00:33 -0500

y'all
youse
ye


do not use 'gals'.....i've been told that is offensive here in the south
(i'm a yankee transplant)

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 2:52 PM, Kevin Carmical <KevinC () uca edu> wrote:

So say we all.


Kevin Carmical
Network Support
UCA
BBA 107
501-450-3107>>> <deleskie () gmail com> 9/27/2012 1:52 PM >>>
Maybe one of the folks here there aren't laywers but likes to give legal
advice, that covers the use of male language to be for shortness in
responses and no way indicate gender bias so we can all get back to talking
about network :(



Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

-----Original Message-----
From: JC Dill <jcdill.lists () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:36:03
To: <nanog () nanog org>
Subject: Re: guys != gender neutral

On 27/09/12 11:10 AM, Jo Rhett wrote:
Or when actually referring to persons of mixed gender, here's a quote
from something I posted in a private forum (my own journal) which is
safe for export:
Because frankly, we're all in this together and honestly everyone loves
the competition. The guys I race with often come find me afterwards and
tell me where they got past me, or ask me how I kept passing them. The
really fast girls rarely want more than a beer to go out on the track and
give you a detailed breakdown on what you are doing wrong. We all help each
other.

In this situation I'm leaving it up the reader to grasp that I'm not
saying that the girls are all faster than the boys, but I believe it's
understood in context as the topic was about how peers help each other out.

It's NOT helping to equivocate "guys" and "girls"!

Guys and gals = equivalent
Boys and girls = equivalent
Guys and girls != equivalent

All the TV shows that refer to female contestants as "girls" are not
helping when they (universally) refer to the males as "guys".  Unless
you refer to the male contestants (on TV) or team members (at work) as
"boys" you shouldn't be using the word "girls" to refer to the females.


I really wish that english had better pronouns for this.

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

jc




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