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Refusal to Review Minutes


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Lest Guest_Secretary think we're piling on here, I'm all in favor of using gender-neutral language whenever practical (e.g. firefighter instead of fireman). And I'm in favor of using "she" as the default third-person singular pronoun at least as often as "he". And, if push comes to shove, I'd reluctantly prefer "they" to "he/she". But in this instance, when we're talking about a particular individual, I'm afraid it's just silly not to refer to him or her according to his or her gender.

 

P.S. I'm also on record as being opposed to "Madame Chairman".

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Mr Brown, thank you for the background.

I was attempting to work within the limits of English to provide a gender neutral pronoun for our President. Mr. Honemann and everyone, please substitute he/she for the word "they" above. I would do it but I am not able to edit my own posts.

Mr. Novosielski, I suspect our parent group will not be amused either except perhaps by the length of RRNR infractions that can be done by a single officer and self-confessed by them. It does well to impune the President's credibility. The parent body weren't amused the last time I asked for advise, after I was commanded to rewrite minutes, either.

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I believe in gender neutrality with respect to leadership positions unless gender is relevant to the discussion. Language is important and always moving to the masculine effectively disenfranchises those who are not male. YMMV.

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Language is important and always moving to the masculine effectively disenfranchises those who are not male.

 

I couldn't agree more. Which is why I suggest using "she" at least as often as "he" when the gender is unknown.

 

But you, presumably, know the gender of your president and it makes no sense to refer to her as "they". Or to refer to him as "they". Because the discussion then becomes more about the peculiar use of language instead of the issue at hand.

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 Language is important and always moving to the masculine effectively disenfranchises those who are not male. YMMV.

 

I couldn't agree more. Which is why I suggest using "she" at least as often as "he" when the gender is unknown.

 

Disenfranchises? Is there to be no end to this butchering of the language?

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I believe in gender neutrality with respect to leadership positions unless gender is relevant to the discussion. Language is important and always moving to the masculine effectively disenfranchises those who are not male. YMMV.

 

Language is important.  In English, when the gender (if any) of a singular antecedent is unknown, the pronoun "he" or "him" is standard usage.  That is common throughout RONR.  I learned it in 4th grade.  It is no more disenfranchising than the nonsensical use of gender specific pronouns for inanimate objects in French, German, and other languages.

 

Actually, English is an almost entirely gender-neutral language, when compared with the vast majority of other languages.  I'm thankful for that.  It is one of the features of English that has made it the predominant world language.  

 

I'm not sure why they is becoming more prevalent in use as a singular neuter pronoun when we already have a perfectly good one:  it.

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The fact that Ms. Rempel is, or was, married is none of my business and is completely irrelevant.

 

I didn't say it was relevant, I said I'd bet she won't get all upset if you refer to her as Mrs. Rempel. 

 

Not too long ago we had a thread posted from our friend in Canada informing us that some lady in an assembly over which he was presiding went absolutely bonkers because "Ms." appears on page 49 of RONR. 

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