21–30 of 39 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
"'Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so now I'm late'" This is a really weird example, as this is one of those cases where English actually DOES have a gender-neutral pronoun (someone).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
girl, not guy.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
Because the person who runs the site in all probability is a male if you don't know otherwise. It's a non-sexist probability assessment.
I agreed with this at first glance, but on second glance: What makes you say this? If you are like me, then your antecedent probability assumption itself was based on sexism, and not evidence. And, in fact, some quick Googling suggests that at least half of bloggers are women. I suppose its debatable whether Ikeahackers is a "blog" but this seems like evidence enough to undermine the premise that, in the absence of any other information, the person behind the site is probably a man.
I don't mean to condemn you, or anything like that. I freely admit that I use the word "guy" by default and, as I mentioned, I was initially in agreement with your point until I took a step back and did a little intentional self-criticism.
I hope we can all agree that sexism is probably universal, to one degree or other, and that we all should work to minimize it, but also that the occasional slip does not make one a bad person.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
I know that according to the dictionary "guy" means "man" but there's no good gender-neutral word for "some person" especially if you want to be informal. "Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so now I'm late" Not necessarily a guy driving (let's suppose I couldn't see the driver; I just know their car didn't move for forever) and it's unfair/sexist to men to assume it was a man, co…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know that according to the dictionary "guy" means "man" but there's no good gender-neutral word for "some person" especially if you want to be informal. "Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so now I'm late" Not necessarily a guy driving (let's suppose I couldn't see the driver; I just know their car didn't move for forever) and it's unfair/sexist to men to assume it was a man, co…
In your first example I usually use some creative pejorative. In your second example I say "folks".
I also try to stick with "person", "someone", singular they, whatever is as flexible as possible until I know what the person prefers to be called.
I do find myself accidentally defaulting to assuming he/she depending on the context. Been trying to correct myself so I don't make people feel unwelcome though. :)
Given the obvious benefits TO Ikea of ikeahackers.net, it seems likely that it was an overzealous legal department move to "protect" the trademark. It's easy to forget how many people there are in a company like Ikea, and the fact that not every trademark cease-and-desist gets vetted by the people who run the company. The thing is they should be able to protect it by simply "licensing" it to the guy who runs ikeahack…
girl, not guy.
Ikea is evil, plain and simple. I'm boycotting them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
I know that according to the dictionary "guy" means "man" but there's no good gender-neutral word for "some person" especially if you want to be informal. "Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so now I'm late" Not necessarily a guy driving (let's suppose I couldn't see the driver; I just know their car didn't move for forever) and it's unfair/sexist to men to assume it was a man, co…
Given the obvious benefits TO Ikea of ikeahackers.net, it seems likely that it was an overzealous legal department move to "protect" the trademark. It's easy to forget how many people there are in a company like Ikea, and the fact that not every trademark cease-and-desist gets vetted by the people who run the company. The thing is they should be able to protect it by simply "licensing" it to the guy who runs ikeahack…
girl, not guy.