ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

It may seem innocent, but language matters, and it is important to be an ally and recognize that patriarchy is so deeply rooted and commonplace in our language that it contributes to asserting dominance of one gender over another (MANager, fireMAN, chairMAN, MANkind, MANpower, dissemination, etc.).

"Manager" has the letters "M", "A" and "N" so it may seem a masculine origin, but that's actually a false assumption.  It has the same roots as "manual" -- hand ("manus" in Latin).

From Wikipedia:

The English verb "manage" comes from the Italian maneggiare (to handle, especially tools or a horse), which derives from the two Latin words manus (hand) and agere (to act).

Wow, I missed seeing that “manager” was given as an example of a supposedly problematic word. I did notice that “disseminate” was on the list with zero hint as to what is supposed to be wrong with it, but only saw the highlighted “MAN” in “manager” and didn’t notice the rest of the word. This kind of silliness gives actual promotion of equality and fairness a bad name. There are still enough problems with discrimination that those who wish to reduce discrimination should avoid doing things that bring disrepute upon their cause.

I actually can respect the opinion that “she” (and therefore, also “he”) should be avoided for inanimate objects (hmmm, are vehicles really “inanimate”?), but this preachy way of promoting it isn’t helping anybody.