Re: Kate Swift died (7-5-2011)

On 2024-05-10 13:51:17 +0000, Christian Weisgerber said:

On 2024-05-10, Adam Funk <a24061@ducksburg.com> wrote:
 

This quote from the second book is funny:
 "Knowing that he and his can be gender neutral, I shall no longer
feel there is an odd image filtering through something like: 'The
average American needs the small routines of getting ready for
work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty
hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the
day.'...How liberating common sense can be."[5]

 Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage quotes one Albert
Bleumenthal from the New York State Assembly:
   ... everyone will be able to decide for himself whether or not
  to have an abortion.

Apart frm "herself", which is probably what I would say, the word Mr Blumenthal was avoiding was probably "themself".
--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly in England until 1987.