What happened to "man"? English doesn't use the equivalent "one" often but it exists. We can also use "they" when avoiding gender but neither seems common.
*nods* Swedish does have "man", but not in the neutral shape like English has "one."
And "man" is also shows how the male gender being the pre-set norm. As man = a man, male. But often Swedes use "one should.." etc instead of "you should.." to not risk offense because we find the English singular vs plural you form a bit puzzling. In Swedish the difference is much more noticable, since there are two different words, du och ni, and there is a formality level baked in there as well. For instance, my farfar, paternal grandfather has in the past referred to me as "ni" out of politeness, but most teens today would probably never use that, and rather call everyone "du". Even if they spoke to the king I imagine
( ... )
I think it's cool that this has actually started a debate, if a silly and uninformed one (reaction a to f). Usually when we discuss our language it's along the lines of "meh whatever I don't care one bit".
*nodsnods* I suppose it makes it all the more evident that those protesting or not thinking much of it, usually never have reflected on these matters.. maybe women reflect more what it would've been like to have been born as male or something inbetween or neither?
A discussion going into a similar direction came up years ago, it was about job descriptions which in my opinion are gender neutral but some feminists felt that it should made clear that they are addressed to females as well because the base form is always the male form. E.g. the German word for a male teacher is Lehrer, for a female teacher it is Lehrerin and in job descriptions you then found LehrerInnen (with capital I). Some people however find that silly and they use Lehrer (m/w) instead to indicate in a political correct form that both genders can apply.
Technically we do have a gender-neutral personal pronoun: es (because we have m/f/n nouns) but I have a feeling that they would try to come up with an own word because except for some exceptions "es" is not used for humans.
In such cases it's mostly tradition, and I see both camp's point. But since we've evolved so much as a species since then, even overly institutionalised languages should try and keep up!
es, hm.. it does seem a bit brief and conspicious somehow.
In business when you are unsure if a woman is married or not instead of the Miss or the Mrs people simply use Ms. which is popular and common place. And yet it pisses people off. I can't see anything but hen upsetting people. I'm not sure I'd like it.
Hm, there is that, but not something we have in Swedish, not anymore at least. I seem to recall the French not being at all happy with mademoiselle vs madame.
But yes, it is annoying even in the English language a woman is "judged" on whether she is married or not with titles like this. And males are always in the clear, with their Mr.
Why wouldn't you like the use of hen in any language/English?
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Swedish does have "man", but not in the neutral shape like English has "one."
And "man" is also shows how the male gender being the pre-set norm. As man = a man, male. But often Swedes use "one should.." etc instead of "you should.." to not risk offense because we find the English singular vs plural you form a bit puzzling. In Swedish the difference is much more noticable, since there are two different words, du och ni, and there is a formality level baked in there as well. For instance, my farfar, paternal grandfather has in the past referred to me as "ni" out of politeness, but most teens today would probably never use that, and rather call everyone "du". Even if they spoke to the king I imagine ( ... )
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/inane
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Speaking of en though, I have noticed at least locally ish in/near Umeå, that people tend to add en when mentioning or referring to people.
eg. "Jag träffande en Joakim på stan idag." instead of "Jag träffade Joakim på stan idag."
Nothing like that is common there though?
*tickles the lurker muchly too!*
How are youuu?
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I suppose it makes it all the more evident that those protesting or not thinking much of it, usually never have reflected on these matters.. maybe women reflect more what it would've been like to have been born as male or something inbetween or neither?
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Some people however find that silly and they use Lehrer (m/w) instead to indicate in a political correct form that both genders can apply.
Technically we do have a gender-neutral personal pronoun: es (because we have m/f/n nouns) but I have a feeling that they would try to come up with an own word because except for some exceptions "es" is not used for humans.
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es, hm.. it does seem a bit brief and conspicious somehow.
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But yes, it is annoying even in the English language a woman is "judged" on whether she is married or not with titles like this. And males are always in the clear, with their Mr.
Why wouldn't you like the use of hen in any language/English?
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