On Fri, 8 Dec 2006, Raymond O'Donnell wrote:
>
> Yes, the table is used only for humans; it's part of some
> administrative software I'm writing for an educational institution,
> and the primary purpose of the gender column is to help the users
> cope with a problem new to the west of Ireland - the large influx of
> immigrants from Africa, eastern Europe and elsewhere means that it's
> no longer possible to tell a student's gender just from their
> name....!
>
> --Ray.
Ray, darest I point out that that's never been possible in English anyway?
There are dozens if not hundreds of androgenous names - Pat and Tracy come
immediately to mind, and there are countless others!
RT
--
Richard Troy, Chief Scientist
Science Tools Corporation
510-924-1363 or 202-747-1263
rtroy@ScienceTools.com, http://ScienceTools.com/