Gender neutral documentation (was RE: [ANN] Phoen ix-2 prerelease)
David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:
Joel de Guzman <joel@boost-consulting.com> writes:
This means for example that the client can completely discard Bind if she does not need it; or ^ that should be a comma
perhaps take out Operator and Statement and just use Function, which ^^^^^^^^^^^^ "she can leave"
Is there a boost convention on gender neutral language? I approve of the sentiment behind using "she" (there aren't enough women in technical roles), but I do find myself stumbling every time I read it. My personal preference is to use "they" as the first person singular gender-neutral pronoun. This will be /intensely/ irritating to grammar purists, but does seem to be the way the language is evolving. -- Martin Bonner Martin.Bonner@Pitechnology.com Pi Technology, Milton Hall, Ely Road, Milton, Cambridge, CB4 6WZ, ENGLAND Tel: +44 (0)1223 441434
Martin Bonner <martin.bonner@pitechnology.com> writes:
David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:
Joel de Guzman <joel@boost-consulting.com> writes:
This means for example that the client can completely discard Bind if she does not need it; or ^ that should be a comma
perhaps take out Operator and Statement and just use Function, which ^^^^^^^^^^^^ "she can leave"
Is there a boost convention on gender neutral language?
I approve of the sentiment behind using "she" (there aren't enough women in technical roles), but I do find myself stumbling every time I read it.
Agreed. I realy dislike this usage. The use of "she" implies the person in question is female. Though "he" technically also has the implication that the person is male, it is general usage that "he" is used as a stand in for "he or she". If we really want to be gender neutral, we should write "he or she", which is what we really mean. Sometimes this is abbreviated "s/he", but that's an ugly kludge. Better would be to rewrite the sentence to avoid the issue.
My personal preference is to use "they" as the first person singular gender-neutral pronoun. This will be /intensely/ irritating to grammar purists, but does seem to be the way the language is evolving.
I don't like this, but it is preferable to "she". Anthony -- Anthony Williams Software Developer Just Software Solutions Ltd http://www.justsoftwaresolutions.co.uk
Anthony Williams wrote:
The use of "she" implies the person in question is female. Though "he" technically also has the implication that the person is male, it is general usage that "he" is used as a stand in for "he or she". If we really want to be gender neutral, we should write "he or she", which is what we really mean. Sometimes this is abbreviated "s/he", but that's an ugly kludge. Better would be to rewrite the sentence to avoid the issue.
My personal preference is to use "they" as the first person singular gender-neutral pronoun. This will be /intensely/ irritating to grammar purists, but does seem to be the way the language is evolving.
I don't like this, but it is preferable to "she".
We do have a pronoun for just such a usage, albeit one that appears to be used today only by the British royal family. Perhaps it sounds archaic, but one understands what one is talking about when one uses the correct language. Regards from yet another Brit, Angus
Anthony Williams <anthony_w.geo@yahoo.com> writes:
I approve of the sentiment behind using "she" (there aren't enough women in technical roles), but I do find myself stumbling every time I read it.
Agreed. I realy dislike this usage.
The use of "she" implies the person in question is female. Though "he" technically also has the implication that the person is male, it is general usage that "he" is used as a stand in for "he or she". If we really want to be gender neutral, we should write "he or she", which is what we really mean. Sometimes this is abbreviated "s/he", but that's an ugly kludge. Better would be to rewrite the sentence to avoid the issue.
It's a difficult question with no good answers, so I'm happy to leave it up to experts. The style guide my publisher gave me says "choose 'he' or 'she" and stick with it throughout the document," so that's what I do. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com
Martin Bonner <martin.bonner@pitechnology.com> writes:
David Abrahams <dave@boost-consulting.com> writes:
Joel de Guzman <joel@boost-consulting.com> writes:
This means for example that the client can completely discard Bind if she does not need it; or ^ that should be a comma
perhaps take out Operator and Statement and just use Function, which ^^^^^^^^^^^^ "she can leave"
Is there a boost convention on gender neutral language?
Nope.
I approve of the sentiment behind using "she" (there aren't enough women in technical roles), but I do find myself stumbling every time I read it.
My personal preference is to use "they" as the first person singular gender-neutral pronoun. This will be /intensely/ irritating to grammar purists, but does seem to be the way the language is evolving.
Personally, I'd prefer if you wrote "he," or just avoided the pronoun: A user that does not need Bind can discard it etc. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com
Does anybody know which bug causes spaces / tabs (or worse) to be inserted in certain subject lines in this mailing list ? Though apparently benign, it's a bit annoying, in particular if non-ascii characters get inserted. Thanks, Stefan
On 11/4/05, Stefan Seefeld <seefeld@sympatico.ca> wrote: Does anybody know which bug causes spaces / tabs (or worse) to be inserted
in certain subject lines in this mailing list ?
I think its a pernicious virus called Microsoft Outlook Express. I seem to recall talk of a patch that fixed this behavior, but I can't find it in my archived mail. -- Caleb Epstein caleb dot epstein at gmail dot com
Stefan Seefeld wrote:
Does anybody know which bug causes spaces / tabs (or worse) to be inserted in certain subject lines in this mailing list ? Though apparently benign, it's a bit annoying, in particular if non-ascii characters get inserted.
I have noticed Firefox insert a newline (!) in a long subject line one. Regards, m Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
I wrote
I have noticed Firefox insert a newline (!) in a long subject line one.
*Sigh* I meant Thunderbird, of course. m Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com
participants (1)
-
Angus Leeming -
Anthony Williams -
Caleb Epstein -
David Abrahams -
Martin Bonner -
Martin Wille -
Stefan Seefeld