OT: Re: gender-neutral English usage

[omcomali.rhn at porcupinefactory.org]

On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:55:18 +0100
"arne anka" <openmoko at ginguppin.de> wrote:

> > And I can't see
> > the need for gender-specific pronouns at all.
> 
> well, since a lot of (most?) languages have those, there's certainly a  
> need for that :-)
> 
I think it could be just historical. Nowadays, you should act the same regardless of the gender of the person you're talking to or about except in some situations. At least in a perfect world, where a worker/colleague of either gender is considered the same value.
That could push the relationship zone back in the perfect world's internet age, though, because it would be the only reason to ask about someone's gender. Some people prefer no one to know they are interested in someone. The solution is to be gender-specific from the very beginning :)