Which, of course, would violate Grice's maxims of manner. Using the less
specific term, presuming that one had, in point of fact, entered into a
traditional marriage, invites the inference that one is not married. So
this bit of advice essentially demands that we equivocate--an
interesting consequence of a dictum that justifies itself in terms of an
ethical position.
Karl Hagen
Department of English
Mount St. Mary's College
>>> [log in to unmask] 08/30/04 9:22 AM >>>
More and more, I'm hearing people say "my partner." It has been
explained to me that it's better to not state a gender or claim a legal
status that's unavailable to homosexual couples, in order to avoid
heterosexism.
Just repeating what I've been told . . . .
Beth Young
Dr. Beth Rapp Young
Director, University Writing Center
Associate Professor, English
University of Central Florida
From Promise to Prominence: Celebrating 40 Years.
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung
P.O. Box 161347
University of Central Florida
Orlando 32816-1347
Office: 407-823-2853
Fax: 407-823-3007
>>> [log in to unmask] 8/30/2004 12:00:56 PM >>>
Oddly, given the very limited understanding of the English genitive
among those objecting, "the wife" might logically be preferred were it
not for its social usage. I didn't hear a reasonable alternative.
This
was one of those prohibitions that didn't offer any.
Herb
I am really curious about what the preference would be: Jane, the
woman
to whom I am married? Probably not "the wife"!
Edith Wollin
-----Original Message-----
From: PAUL E. DONIGER [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 7:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Rule of Thumb
Herb,
I wonder how the same people would react to your wife if she
referred to you as "my husband!"
Paul
"Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I must also admit that I've gotten into similar
trouble
for critiquing some of the canons of gender-neutral language, the
worst
case being when I responded to criticism for referring to my wife as
"my
wife".
Herb
Subject: Re: Rule of Thumb
I AM SOOOOO SORRY TO HEAR YOUR STORY!!! My deepest
sympathies to you
and all who still think. And to think that academia
was
a bastion of
critical thinking.
Rebecca
On Thursday, August 26, 2004, at 12:21 PM, Kathleen M.
Ward wrote:
> Rebecca,
>
> It's not that I don't agree with you. I do. However,
if I did any
> of this stuff, I'd be fired. Being offended is
enough
for people to
> lodge protests; it's the fact that the protest has
been lodged
> (rather than the validity of the protest) that
counts.
Remember what
> happened to the guy (was it in D. C.?) w! ho used
the
word "niggardly."
>
> After the Picnic Day fallout, I am a little
sensitive
on the subject.
> I've also been called on the carpet by an associate
dean for telling
> a student that she "had to be willing to do the
work"
in class.
>
> It's a new, and not better, world.
> KMW
>
>
>
>> On Thursday, August 26, 2004, at 11:32 AM, Kathleen
M. Ward wrote:
>>
>>> When I used the term in passing in
>>> class, people objected. They may be wrong, but
they
are offended.
>>> And telling them that they are wrong does not make
them less
>>> offended.
>>>
>>
>> Are you saying that ignorance should now be able to
dictate just under
>> 400 years of actual usage? This political
correctness
has got to
>> stop.
>> Tell your students that they are there to GET an
education, not to
>> reinforce wild-eyed misconceptions. And to lighten
up
a little.
>>
>> Rebecca Watson
>>
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