"legal" language.

I'm opening this thread to respond to hoaryhead's assertions about what is legal language. It is off-topic on the thread where hoaryhead is making those assertions.

This is in response to the post by hoaryhead in Message 158 The British might say that Americans don't even speak English -- they speak American. And that's as it should be. The war of independence was fought so that we would be free from English domination. We should also be free from domination by their language standards.The use of "their" as singular is older than ideas of gender neutral language. Such usage was admittedly less common than now, but it still existed.In an earlier message (msg 150 of the same thread), hoaryhead had said that the purpose of this language "is to deny 'The Father and The Son'; and to deny 'The Male Head and the Female Body.'" He now provides a reference: Sorry, but I don't see the relevance. That work is dealing with questions on whether the bible should be translated in a gender-neutral fashion. As far as I know, that has not been suggested in the thread on which you were commenting.hoaryhead had claimed that there was a law that required "legal" English. I asked him to cite that law. His reply: The constitution is not a law. Moreover, there is nothing in the constitution making it a requirement that only English be used.

I sometimes use "their" for gender neutral language purposes. But I usually find it more fun to use the feminine pronouns for non-specific gender pronouns.The drawback with this is that it can be distracting for some people, which defeats the purpose of clear communication. On the other hand, I find it distracting when people use the masculine pronoun.

If English is the 'legal' language of America, why do Americans always spell 'colour' incorrectly.You also spell these words incorrectly:CentreMetreCatalogueFulfilJewelleryMoustacheAnalyseThere are lots more, so if English is the legal language then you should all be in jail for breaking the law. I should point out that I never once mentioned translating anything in the Bible, hoaryheid imagined that one.Brian.

GOD get's pissed when you call Her Him.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Father Nature gets pissed when you call him mother.

The use of "their" as a gender neutral pronoun goes back to before the '80s and has nothing to do with the question of whether the Bible should be written in a gender-neutral way.Hoaryhead doesn't know what he is talking about.

quote:

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The use of "their" as a gender neutral pronoun goes back to before the '80s....

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Since there are examples of this in the works of Shakespeare, among others, I am assuming that you are referring to the 1580s.

sliver in one's eye, etc:it's aluminum, not aluminium. and it's Herb no -erb. there's a freakin' h on it.also, lorry is a really stupid name for a truck.

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אָרַח

And "tyre". Mention "tyre". Point out that no civilized people spell tire with a "y".

the people who live there now do.whether or not they're civilized is another debate -- but they were sort of the origin of civilization. the phonetic alphabet comes from the phoencians who lived in cities like tyre, and tyre was the major exporter of purple dye used for royal robes and such.

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אָרַח

It was hoaryhead who talked about the '80s. Ask him which century he meant. (But I'm only old enough to remember the 1980s)

I hope you're talking about a person and not a plant, because "herb" the plant is "erb" no matter where you live.

I'd love to teach in America, I can just imagine the discussions over language that I'd have with students! But my partner is not keen on moving there, but I think it would be a very enjoyable experience.In seminars here I sometimes struggle to understand what some American students are asking me, but I do 'tune in' quite quickly and they are extremely polite and do not mind repeating themselves.The American students are asked to use English spelling in their essays (as oposed to American English) but they do not get marked down if they lapse now and then.Brian.

I hate to tell you that you're wrong CF, but you are.Both pronuciations are accepted, and both are in the dictionary, when I say herb I make an 'h' sound at the beginning. When people tell me I'm saying it wrong I tell them to look it up, both pronunciations are in there.Now, I know how you feel about dictionaries, so, since I pronounce the 'h', then, besisdes the dictionary, there are people who pronounce it my way so its legit.