Pete Ware writes: Pete> How amusing. It's not difficult to get english to be gender neutral Pete> (it's only the occasional noun like chairman, mailman, stewardess) that Pete> needs a "fixing", but languages with most nouns being either feminine or Pete> masculine -- what a nightmare. At this point, I'd just assumed such Pete> cultures were smart enough to ignore the issue. They aren't. In France the "Acad�mie Fran�aise" is constitued of people who are notoriously narrow minded and old fashioned. Howver, not everybody thinks that the issue should be just ignored; I'm not particularly convinced myself. When faced with the sexism we still have in many professions (politics, to begin with), you end up thinking that you won't be able to shake the tradition without shaking the words first. There's a funny riddle for which most people can't find the key. I'll give it in french for those who can understand, with a translation: - Un p�re et son fils font de l'escalade. Le fils tombe et se blesse gravement. Son p�re l'emm�ne aussit�t � l'hopital, et quand le chirurgien le voit, il s'�crie: �Mais je ne peux pas l'op�rer! C'est mon fils!�. <mule> - A father and his son are climbing a moutain. The boy falls and seriously injurs himself. The father immediately gets him to the hospital, and when the surgeon sees him, he exclaims: "But I can't operate him! He's my son!". </mule> Most people can't find the key because in french, "le chirurgien" (the surgeon) is a male-only expression which also designates a female surgeon[1]. But people don't think of it and conclude that the boy can't have two fathers. Words can indeed carry perverse ideas. Footnotes: [1] "La chirurgienne", the logical equivalent, doesn't exist. -- / / _ _ Didier Verna http://www.inf.enst.fr/~verna/ - / / - / / /_/ / E.N.S.T. INF C201.1 mailto:verna＠inf.enst.fr /_/ / /_/ / /__ / 46 rue Barrault Tel. (33) 01 45 81 73 46 75634 Paris cedex 13 Fax. (33) 01 45 81 31 19