Gender-neutral Versions

[Ben1445]

Please learn How to Read a Dictionary Entry (Merriam-Webster).

From your transcript…

“And if you look at century in our online dictionary, based on the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, you see the first definition we give is a period of 100 years. This is perhaps the most common. However, we would really like to stress that most common is by no means the same as saying best or most important or most correct or anything. We are not assigning value to these words. We're assigning perceived intent on the part of the user.”

I don’t care if they are assigning value or not. My point is, and they made it for me, that the online dictionary I quoted, gives the first definition as the likely most common.

I use the word primary to mean first. I’m not sure if that is the first definition of primary. I also am not awarding value to words. What is this, scrabble?

But apparently I can’t remember what post I mean to quote for the length of time it takes to scroll down to the reply section.
I don’t feel that old!

 

[Ascetic X]

Even Al Jazeera is all tangled up in man vs. person semantics. Airman can mean airwoman? It all crazy.

“We were told by the US government source that overnight in Iran, a missing crew member of the downed F-15E has been located, and there was a rescue effort, but there was a fierce firefight.

The latest information we have with them is that the crew member has not left Iranian territory, and because of the ongoing hostilities, there could be still danger to that person and to other people involved in that rescue effort.

So, this is an ongoing, active, rescue effort, but that airman is not basically out of Iranian territory, and I want to be clear when I say airman in the US military parlance, that doesn’t necessarily mean a male.

We don’t know the gender of this person.”

US recovers missing airman in Iran, rescue effort ongoing, official says

Iran says US-Israeli attacks on the Mahshahr Petrochemical Zone have killed five and wounded 170.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Ben1445]

Oh brother! That's not how it works.

Please learn How to Read a Dictionary Entry (Merriam-Webster).

You misunderstood my use of the word primary. And that can be how it works. See my last post