On 26-7-2010 10:20, John Haltiwanger wrote:
Then again, I'm a fringe member of a fringe discipline (new media), so perhaps what I can do/what is expected linguistically is irrelevant for the majority.
Well, new trends have to come from your dicipline I guess. (Or maybe some new shortcut boils up from the sms universe some day.) I think that this he/she issue is a nice example of something that a lot of brainpower is put into ... each writer (male of female) at one point has to think about it ... btw, thinking of it, 'the reader' sounds quite neutral. In education using 'you' is common which also avoids the problem. Anyhow, an interesting thread and a nice topic for a discussion at the context conference when we discuss manuals and manual writing. Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------