Re: Truth matters when writing software and selecting leaders

Kaz Kylheku (gnu-misc-discuss) wrote:
> RMS didn't like "they" used as a singular, due to issues such
> as a ambiguities of reference (is the antecedent the two people
> mentioned, or just the latter?) He invented gender-neutral pronouns
> and uses them. Those pronouns carry no indication of someone's
> biological gender or sexual identity.

RMS's preferred-use pronoun "person" is not his own invention; it was 
used in a book that (ambiguously) depicted a future androgynous utopia.  
(Was the utopia a vision of a future or just the viewpoint character's 
hallucination?)  I have objected to it previously on the grounds that 
the possessive form "per" is also a preposition in English and its use 
in both roles makes text difficult to read, although I admit that I have 
yet to find an instance where it introduces an unresolvable ambiguity.  
In the end, I am fine with it as a quirk of RMS's own speech and 
writing, but I do push to keep it and other invented pronouns out of GNU 
project documents and policy statements, where they could be stumbling 
blocks for readers for whom English is a second (or third or fourth or 
...) language.

> One's name is a very important asset; when you sign it under
> a document which contains lies, without being deceived or coerced,
> you severely tarnish that asset.

Some people do not seem to have that concept or any notion of honor at 
all other than a means to manipulate others who do have those.


-- Jacob