I am confused about this discussion. I thought the offensive expression was
"the wife" not "my wife."
I have never heard "the husband" used, so there is a sense of sexism
associated with this expression, in my mind at least.
But the expressions "my husband" or "my wife" seem totally innocuous to me.
Christine Martihn
>From: "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Rule of Thumb
>Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:28:07 -0500
>
>Paul,
>
>
>
>That was part of my response. I was told that "my husband" is not
>comparable because of the power differential. I argued that the problem
>was a limited and politically driven understanding of the English
>genitive.
>
>
>
>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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> >> interface at:
> >> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> >> and select "Join or leave the list"
> >>
> >> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
> >
> > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's
>web
> > interface at:
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> >
> > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
> >
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
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>
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>
>
>"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an
>improbable fiction" (_Twelfth Night_ 3.4.127-128). To join or leave this
>LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
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--
Christine Reintjes Martin
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