Klarinet Archive - Posting 000157.txt from 2008/07

From: "Dee Flint" <deeflint01@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Conn-Selmer Relocates
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:23:57 -0400


----- Original Message -----
From: "Crystal Proper" <crystalproper@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:03 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Conn-Selmer Relocates

>
>>
>> Guess you haven't talked with many women in
>> traditionally male jobs lately,
>> David. I appreciate the thoughtfulness when people
>> don't call me a man.
>>
>> Lelia Loban
>> http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban
>> Obama in 2008.
>
> Guess you haven't talked with many OTHER women in male-dominated jobs. I'm
> in the Air Force and have no problem being called an "Airman". That's what
> I am. People can tell by looking at me that I'm a woman. "Airperson"
> would just be ridiculous. Maybe if Obama gets elected he can work on that.
>

I too am a woman in a male dominated field (mechanical engineering). I find
the substitution of "-person" for the suffix "-man" highly objectionable.
It is pretentious and draws attention to the fact that the speaker
incorrectly considers the suffix "-man" as being specifically male rather
than referring to " - one who -".

As someone else has commented, originally "man" referred to people in
general in the root language. To add to that: a female was a "wo-man" and a
male was a "wer-man". Overtime the latter prefix disappeared so we were
left with woman and man. So we got stuck with one word meaning both male
and humans in general.

In addition, creating "-person" as a suffix, due to it's length and the way
it is pronounced, draws attention away from the function (such as craft) and
focuses it on the suffix itself. The suffix "-man" is always a syllable
that is not emphasized so the focus then remains on the function, i.e.
CRAFTSman (one who practices a craft), CHAIRman (one who holds the chair).

My father put this whole "-man" vs "-person" controversy very succinctly.
People who wanted to change it were simply "putting the em-PHA-sis on the
wrong syl-LA-ble".

Dee Flint

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