can we finally lay this particular linguistic lie to rest?

[alienne]

It is JUST NOT TRUE that "he" is a "gender-neutral" pronoun in English. It never has been true. English HAS no gender-neutral pronoun; it lost it centuries ago in the transition from being German.

It IS true that if you don't know the gender of the person you're talking about, you might say "he" -- but that's not because it's "gender-neutral". It'

Comments

[xiphias]

Also, the name of our species isn't "Man." Why?

"Man is an animal of the order Mammalia. As a mammal, a man carries young in the uterus, and gives live birth, afterwards nursing the young from teats."

If the average person reads this without thinking about mpreg, then I'd accept that our species can be called "Man."

[alienne]

Yes, yes, yes! Another good point. :)