Thread: The Ovillejo
View Single Post
  #23  
Unread 07-14-2002, 11:51 PM
Kevin Andrew Murphy Kevin Andrew Murphy is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Posts: 3,257
Post

Robert--

Illiterate stupidity? Excuse me?

English is an evolving language, and you're either forgetting or ignoring that one of the forces at play is the politeness factor. I'm certain there was a great deal of bitching and moaning when the plural (and formal) "you" began to supplant the singular (and informal) "thou," but it did, and now no one uses "thou" in modern parlance.

In modern parlance, the feminine form of "poet"--"poetess"--has fallen out of favor because it's generally pointless to differentiate sex for any profession save acting, and that only because of the roles. "Poet" is now the catchall category, but it has an implication of being male, especially when twinned with a male pronoun.

There are all sorts of solutions, some more attractive than others, but all equally appropriate for informal writing. The writer picks a fashion to suit their personal tastes and goes with it. Myself, I like using the neuter plural pronoun in place of the gendered singular pronouns for the third person, avoiding "it" as this would be rude, following the same logic as "you" replacing "thou."

I notice you don't capitalize your first or last name. Is this illiterate stupidity on your part, or just a personal choice?

As personal choices go, I find it a pretentious affectation, but I usually don't bother to comment on it.

So you find he/she ugly. Deal.

Kevin