Date:  Sun, 6 Nov 1994 13:47:53 GMT

From:  "Warren A. Brewer" <NCUT054[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]TWNMOE10.BITNET>

Subject: Folkspeech as wellspring



Impersonal pronouns:



Since 3rd sg impers _he/him/his_ ("The masculine predominates") rule is

on the ropes, informal or nonstandard contenders should simply be

acknowledged as the new champs. Perhaps it is the moral responsibility

of ADS to make such suggestions for formal use, lest the masses

remain at the mercy of pedantic prescriptivists peddling their

undemocratic nostrums.



"Melior est reprehendant nos grammatici, quam non intelligant nos

populi." Which, for the Classically challenged, means, "It's better

that grammarians criticize us, than that people not understand us."

Unfortunately I'm memory challenged, so it was either Jerome or

Augustine (probably the former in his preface to the Vulgate).

                               ---Wab.