Re: [ejlist] DIE SCHERE 42 - Text - Translation - Language

[Gary Kern <gkern@alumni.princeton.edu>]

Wahe@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Since we are translating, allow the deviation, an inquiry into English
> language: could someone native supply the rule which gender is proper for
> prenouns referring to nouns without obvious gender ?
> 
> Or complete the list:
> 
> the king    -  he
> the mother   - she
> the stone   - it
> the cat   - it
> the tiger
> the Black Beauty
> the boat
> the HMS Victory
> the thought
> the child
> the witness
> the guest
> the person
> 
> In German, every noun is of either male, female or neutral gender, like in
> Latin. In English the nouns are all of one gender grammatically, so the
> gender of the prenoun depends on the the gender of whatever the noun stands
> for, or am I mistaken ?
> 
> Greetings
> 
> Walter
***********************
Traditionally the pronoun was masculine, but after the onslaught of
feminism it has taken two forms:

Traditional:  One would prefer that his views were taken seriously.

Transitional (10 yrs ago):  One would prefer that his or her views were
taken seriously.

Today (pop culture):  One would prefer that their views were taken
seriously.

That's right, in the pop culture, including TV news, the plural form is
used, even when the subject is singular.  A newsman--correction, I mean
newsperson--certainly knows what they want.

GK