Re: Being excellent to one another

[John Darrington <john@darrington.wattle.id.au>]

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On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 09:57:04AM +0100, Alex Sassmannshausen wrote:
     >
     > ... and yes.  If an individual specifically requests to be referred to by
     > a partcular set of pronouns I will attempt to do so, but may occasionally
     > forget if that person wants feminine pronouns and is 6'4" and has an enormous
     > black wiry beard.
     
     [I really don't know what your intention is with that last paragraph ??? I
     will just ignore it, as I wouldn't want to ascribe malice???]

OMG! What is wrong here?  Why would you (or anyone) think this is malicious?  The 
intention, which I thought was clear, is that if people make unusual requests
we should try to accommodate those requests, but the requestor should not be
suprised or offended if people don't always remember.  Surely that was obvious?

It is the same with the Linux vs. GNU/Linux thing.   When speaking for GNU, I
request people to say GNU/Linux when talking about the operating system.  However,
I recognise that some people have been exposed to "Linux" for a long time, and
it is hard to break the habit of a lifetime instantly.   Therefore, I don't jump
on someone saying "Gotcha" if they once forget.  I will however give them a
polite and gentle reminder.

Regarding your other comments,  as we have discussed before, we will have to
agree to disagree about singular they.   I have not the benefit of ever 
having learned English as a foreign language.  But I do remember in my elementary
school being taught NOT to use it *especially* not in written text.  And - 
perhaps because of this early tuition - it still sounds clumsy and confusing to 
me.

People having been talking about being "welcoming".  Well, I beleive the way
to achieve that is threefold:

1. Try not to offend.
2. Try not to be offended.
3. Recognise that diversity is an asset.


J'

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