From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-5.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E7234C636C8 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2021 18:02:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C174261360 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2021 18:02:25 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S237171AbhGOSFS (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:05:18 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp20.pobox.com ([173.228.157.52]:63955 "EHLO pb-smtp20.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S236800AbhGOSFS (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:05:18 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp20.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83CF013B0C1; Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:02:24 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type; s=sasl; bh=vrsEqr3WwiwAafSH8QCN0UOASapa+sRsOgsNKw g23QI=; b=gJ8QWhUo12dGfhv3yeeh0zAmy8LxrMWduUGh7G4Yq8qOs2ggrHZh7X 8qWJdOdObPs1DlVyE9PdEWy2XMpr8CP4CoJx7hiS4WR2era4RaGt0f+7I7rfwd2W WlVWZ5kvKbZPSuhL/ZJ2ojAhj5cdnK0sLY7InhWA1PDn0rrbXdqIY= Received: from pb-smtp20.sea.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C7E713B0C0; Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:02:24 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [34.74.3.135]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id EF46213B0BF; Thu, 15 Jul 2021 14:02:21 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) From: Junio C Hamano To: Taylor Blau Cc: Eric Sunshine , =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmo=?= =?utf-8?B?w7Zyw7A=?= Bjarmason , Derrick Stolee , Git List Subject: Re: [PATCH] CodingGuidelines: recommend gender-neutral description References: <2c7f188a-6ebe-b116-8299-86ca3732d79a@gmail.com> <87czrl0wob.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2021 11:02:20 -0700 In-Reply-To: (Taylor Blau's message of "Thu, 15 Jul 2021 12:47:59 -0400") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.2 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Pobox-Relay-ID: CD77ABAA-E596-11EB-AD1B-D5C30F5B5667-77302942!pb-smtp20.pobox.com Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Taylor Blau writes: > On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 12:35:30PM -0400, Eric Sunshine wrote: >> On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 12:25 PM Junio C Hamano wrote: >> > Technical writing seeks to convey information with minimal >> > friction. One way that a reader can experience friction is if they >> > encounter a description of "a user" that is later simplified using a >> > gendered pronoun. If the reader does not consider that pronoun to >> > apply to them, then they can experience cognitive dissonance that >> > removes focus from the information. >> > >> > Give some basic tips to guide us avoid unnecessary of gendered >> > description. >> >> Some words seem to be missing from this sentence. > > I assume that it's supposed to read "guide us [to] avoid unnecessary > [uses] of gendered description". Thanks. Last-minute edit always screwes me up. >> > + Note that this sounds ungrammatical and unnatural to those who >> > + learned English as a second language in some parts of the world. >> >> It also sounds ungrammatical and unnatural to this native English speaker. > > Apologies if this suggestion has been made earlier in the thread, but > this article > > https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/singular-they > > document from the APA's style guide helps convince me that this is > grammatical. Yes, the language is living and drifting---and that is why it matters when and where you learned ;-)