italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
>politically correct sergio viggiani:
>
> 1. can we be more careful when sending personal (one-to-one)
>comments; it is confusing as well as wasteful
I guess this one is for me. I apologize for hitting the
wrong key and sending out a message that was only intended for
Adrienne Defendi. Since Mr. Viggiani is an expert of English law, I
hope he won't sue me (or Adrienne).
>2. i am not a linguist, i just use the language, but these hair-splitting
>disquisitions on sexist language seem to me pointless.
This must be a man speaking. I would agree that these
"disquisitions" (disquisizioni!) are pointless when one's gender has
nothing to gain from splitting hair. After all, using the pronoun
"he" to embrace the entire human spectrum reaffirms men's presence.
On the other hand I believe that a change welcoming the inclusion of
women into language usage is an important addition to
speaking/writing (thinking?) patterns.
> after all in english
>law, the expression "he embraces her" is not a sexist (or sly) remark, but a
>way of
>avoiding repetitions in legal documents.
It's heterosexist.
> i have long adopted the policy of
>address half of my correnspondence to Dear Sir/madame and half to Dear
>madame/Sir.
It's Ms., not "madame." Dear Ms./Sir. Moreover, I notice
that while Sir is capitalized here, madame is not. Paging Dr.
Freud.....
Gloria Monti
______________________________
Gloria Monti, Ph.D.
University of California
Porter Faculty Services
Film and Digital Media Department
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
voice-mail: 831-459-1498
fax: 831-459-3535
many years later, as he faced the firing squad, colonel aureliano buendía
was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to
discover ice.
gabriel garcía márquez, *cien anos de soledad*
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