Saturday, June 3, 2006

Pronoun foolishness The new contributor at the so-called SmartTechWriting blog, Jayvee Fernandez, repeats some ancient foolishness about avoiding gender issues when using pronouns: The issue about pronouns and gender. . . Use compound pronouns such as "he or she" or "s/he". . . [source] [SmartTechWriting] That wouldn't fly in the environment in which I work. The "he or she" construction makes for awkward writing and reading, and "s/he" is untranslatable. Instead, repeat the noun previously used, which also avoids the confusion of uncertain pronoun reference. In Jayvee's defense, he's referencing a source from the previous century. We know better now. 9:03:40 AM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

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