Re: GNOME Documentation Style Guide

["Rebecca J. Walter" <rjp mail tele dk>]

On 03 Jul 2001 08:43:27 -0400, Kevin Breit wrote:
> John,
> 	So far, not bad.  However, I do have a problem with something:
> 
> "Do not get tied in knots with his/her or s/he. These pronouns do not
> exist. Stay neutral." -
> http://developer.gnome.org/documents/style-guide/guidelinesfortechwriting.html
> 
> A few years ago in English class (yes...this is in the high schools, so
> remember its quite sterile!) my teacher told us that we should use he
> over she.  This is because gramatically, the he encompasses both males
> and females, while she is specific to females.
> Comments?

Grammatically this is correctly.  Politically some people get bitchy.  I
think the best thing is to avoid the use of a pronoun where possible
without creating an awkward sentence structure.  I'm a girl and a prefer
he when the gender is unknown.