So a while back the DomPost gave linguists at VUW their own column, which was kind of cool. Got to read Laurie "ZZZZZZZJST" Bauer on the op-ed papers. Nice.
However, Janet Holmes' boring feminist language rants (eg http://www.stuff.co.nz/4526373a1861.html) are really beginning to get me down.
It seems odd that linguists, who normally delight in telling language pedants that their beloved grammar rules are only for stuck-up snobs, and that language constantly changes, still manage to have the cheek to exhort us to use language in a way in keeping with their own political ideologies.*
So, Karl DuFresne's** adherence to the Old Ways may well be dated, but leave him be, Ms Holmes. It's all part of language evolution, remember... can't expect everyone to start using NewSpeak in unison. That would be... totalitarian. No, not to worry, once everyone of his generation (including yourself) die off, no one will offend you by using the word 'usherette'. Surely to interfere as you are doing would shatter the flimsy illusion that your discipline is neutral and 'scientific', rather than a platform for played-out ideological polemics?
And anyway, why do you persist in continuing to think that it's still 1975 and any of this matters?
* Which isn't to say I totally disagree with using gender neutral language, when the statistics support it. I had to laugh at a work colleague's use of the term 'fire person' the other day, when all the 'fire people' present were distressingly, and stereotype-confirmingly, male.
** Love his column, by the way. My dad likes to point out sadly that Du Fresne's view would have been described 30 years ago as 'common-sense', but now need the apologetic label 'curmudgeon' to somehow excuse them.
Posted by stuart at May 14, 2008 7:24 PM