Grammatical conumdrums
March 20, 2010
Hi there,
The articles in
BioEdge are quite diverse. But this is the first time that we have dabbled in
English grammar. A Sydney newspaper has reported the first
officially androgynous individual, Norrie. Once legally male, he had a sex
change operation but she apparently tired of that and is now living without a
gender. This poses awkward problems for journalists. Is “it” the
gender-appropriate pronoun? That sounds quite disrespectful. Norrie prefers the
neologism “zie”.
Well, actually, it’s
not actually a neologism, because this is one of a number of possible
gender-neutral pronouns which have been floated over the years. None of
them have been very successful. If you have any suggestions, please send them
along.
Cheers,
Michael Cook
Editor
Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.
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