>Oh, I didn't know our Sheriff was a female woman. I had
previously seen her referred to as "he". I suppose that is OK.
I was taught that when the gender of a person is unknown, it is
correct to refer to the person by using the masculine pronouns
"he", "him", and "his". Nowadays the female women of the uppity
variety are trying to change the law on this matter, but no
proposed new ordinance has ever been officially approved, acceded
to, or ratified.<
That's strange. I've not seen such references on the list
myself. Had I, I would have commented thereupon.
>I was taught that when the gender of a person is unknown, it is
correct to refer to the person by using the masculine pronouns
"he", "him", and "his".<
Yes, that has been common useage up to now. I know of no
actual statute which demands this, however.
>Nowadays the female women of the uppity variety are trying to
change the law on this matter, but no proposed new ordinance has
ever been officially approved, acceded to, or ratified.<
I will address your "uppity" comment off-list.
>P.S. Before sending this message I dutifully ran spell check.
It passed with flying colors. Still I thought there was
something wrong with the way I had spelled something. So I
decided to change my spelling of "ordnance" to "ordinance". Did
I do right? According to spell check, either spelling is
perfectly OK. <
Yes; while either of the two spellings is quite correct, each
denotes a vastly different thing. "Ordnance" means explosives, as
in artillery shells, ammunition, bombs, etc. "Ordinance" means a
statute, a law.
Terri
Official Grammar Sheriff
