On 22/09/15 22:17, Geoff Winkless wrote:
> On 22 September 2015 at 10:52, Gavin Flower
> <GavinFlower@archidevsys.co.nz
> <mailto:GavinFlower@archidevsys.co.nz>>wrote:
>
> On 22/09/15 21:33, Geoff Winkless wrote:
>
>
> Without wanting to get into a grammar war, I'm not so sure I
> agree that it "condones" it. Dictionaries reflect the current
> state of usage, they don't act as arbiters of correctness. The
> abuse of "literally" as an emphasiser (which usage is now
> listed in the OED) is a prime example.
>
> I would prefer "his or her" over "their". Perhaps our American
> cousins might disagree though.
>
> I prefer "their" rather than "his or her", it is less clumsy &
> there is no point in specifying gender unless it is relevant!
>
>
> I agree in that I prefer "their" in informal speech; however in a
> formal document I would find it sloppy. I don't think "his or her" is
> inherently clumsy; m
> aybe I'm just showing my age.
>
> Besides, some people are neither, or their biological gender is
> ambiguous - so a few people fit into neither the male nor the
> female category (depending on precise definitions, about 0.5%)!
>
>
> My understanding is that most intersex (and certainly all trans)
> people would identify with one or the other, and even those who don't
> select exclusively identify with a mix of both (and would therefore
> still be covered by "his or her", no?) although I don't pretend to be
> an expert.
>
> Perhaps it would be easier to avoid the controversy by actually
> rewording into the plural, where possible?
>
> So
>
> "any user can make such a change for his session."
>
> becomes
>
> "Users can make such a change for their individual sessions"
>
> or similar?
>
> Geoff
To me, the key things is NOT to specify gender, unless it is relevant -
and I don't think gender is relevant in describing how to use a database.
I was using "Gender Appropriate" language long before the Politically
Correct craze started (over 50 years ago)! I was told references to
"he" in rules included females, which I thought was daft!
Cheers,
Gavin