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> Though a woman, she talks the masculinized talk I don't think that's accurate. It used to be that "he" and "man" were understood to be gender neutral in abst
by humanrebar 8y ago
> Though a woman, she talks the masculinized talk
I don't think that's accurate. It used to be that "he" and "man" were understood to be gender neutral in abstract and impersonal cases. Such as "to boldly go where no man has gone before" and "mankind" and "mailman". During Hopper's life, English language changed to expunge the ambiguity.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- bograt 8y agoI have to concede that I still talk in this now outmoded manner. I have to make a conscious effort to switch to modern gender neutral language (eg. they) when speaking or writing to anyone outside my family and friends. > English language changed to expunge the ambiguity. I think it's more accurate to say it adopted different ambiguities. The use of 'they' can create ambiguities of number, and just switching between he/she leaves the same ambiguity (is the gendering intentional or not?) albeit in a gender balanced way. As a side-note, 'he' was used to refer to people, who could be regarded as interchangeable (man or woman) and 'she' was reserved for 'uniquely individual' things, which is why countries and ships (as two examples) are referred to as such. At least, this was may understanding when growing up and I've never lost this habit.
- cirgue 8y agoNot only understood, but widely accepted as the grammatically correct general reference gender. English isn’t the only language to do this.
- paulddraper 8y agoInterestingly, the German translation "one" (as in the gender neutral pronoun: "One must not both eat and talk.") is "man".