Quote:
Originally Posted by susannahsays
Out of curiosity, do you use pronouns that match the gender of people when referring to them, or do you use the pronoun matching the gender of person (or some other category)? If you refer to women using feminine pronouns, is because a woman is female or because "woman" is feminine? Is it ever considered grammatically correct to refer to a woman, who is known to be a woman, using masculine pronouns? Maybe it is, I really don't know.
I think this may come down to me disliking when animals are spoken of essentially as if they are all the same and that their specific features are of no consequence. That's how it feels when she repeatedly uses the wrong pronouns. But like I said, English is her first language, so there's really no excuse.
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Regarding the first paragraph, in my language (German), it is not acceptable to call a woman a man under any circumstances (unless she feels it is appropriate of course). However, in some european languages, such as Hungarian, if you were to travel with 30 woman and there is one man in the group, they are referred to as male, if I recall correctly. Still, a single woman is never adressed as male.
Regarding the second paragraph, I think you said you've told your T this annoys you. Perhaps if you mention it again a little more bluntly, it might help. Or if you prefer playing it nice, you could tell her how you chatted to some people about the subject and found it very difficult to understand how anyone could call a male animal a female animal or vice versa. Rant about it a bit? Maybe she'll get the point without losing face.
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