[Go to end]

Sexism in the English Language

The movement to liberate the English language from male chauvinism hasn't gone far enough

The movement to liberate the English language from male chauvinism has made only minor strides.  The vogue to replace "miss" and "Mrs." with "Ms." is accomplished—the trend to neuterize such words as "spokesMAN" with "spokesPERSON" has also gained acceptance.  But still, these revisions were not encompassing enough and actually need more attention.

Think about it.  What is so liberated about "chairperson"… or even just "person," for that matter?  Why not "perdaughter" and consequently, "chairperdaughter?" Shouldn't we have desexed "huMAN" and feminized "feMALE?" I think it's time we brought a more systematic change to the English language.

We should start by unisexing the general name for homo sapiens, as well as us hetero sapiens.  "Human" and "human being" needs to change to something asexual, to something like, I don't know, maybe "hu-being."  Hence, we should speak of the "hubeing race."

Now let's look at "female" and "woman."  If you think about it, the core parts of these nouns, "male" and "man," are effeminate words with those first two letters "ma," from the Latin for mother, mater.  Therefore I propose dropping the "fe" and the "wo" and instead refer to the child-bearing member of the species as simply "male" and "man."

Then to be consistent, her breadwinning counterpart should be called "pale" and "pan," derived from the Latin word for father, pater.  We would then have "chairman" when it's the gentler of the sexes, and "chairpan" when it's the more logical member of the "hubeing species." Of course, the anonymous designation would be "chairhubeing."

Carrying the "m" and "p" designations of the sexes to its logical conclusion, it follows that "mister," or "Ms." (pronounced "mizz"), refers to the lovely honoring-and-obeying partner while the title for the cherishing-and-protecting spouse would be "pister," or "Ps." (pronounced "pizz.")

Now let's straighten out "she" and "he." Since the letters HE are two thirds of "she" and "her," "he" should become the pronoun of the more emotional of the sexes.  And since we find the letters HI as the root of "him" and "his," I propose "hi" be the pronoun for the stronger gender.  Hence, "hi" never asks directions and "he" doesn't know how to read a map.  Similarly, "heman" would refer to the muscle-bounded "hubeing" without an Adam's apple while "hipan" would refer to the hairy-chested "pale" counterpart.

But wait a second.  The child-bearing "hubeings" are not the only objects of language discrimination.  Tables and benches and desks deserve fairness also.  Therefore, instead of "chairhubeing," I recommend "furniturehubeing."


 

 

Other Essays and Articles

  On the serious side

  A Wishful Memory

  Perfection

  Who am I?

  Belief

  Ten Commandments

  Capitalism

  Improving Democracy

  Ranking NFL Teams

  You Are Five People

  Flag Desecration

  Lottery Logic

  A New Rating Scale

  The Wisdom Well

  On the light side

  The Two-Wish Genie

  I Love Music, but…

  Curious People

  Designing Safety

  Body Art

  A Shaggy Dog Story

  Sexy Language

  Reflections

  A Love Poem

  One Liners

  You Are Old If...

  Aphorisms for All


email     
  Copyright© 2003-2024

  Hosted by Bluehost