UNC drops term ‘freshman’ in favor of ‘gender inclusive language’

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At this point wouldn`t it be easier to just change the meaning of MAN?

Then you only have one word to change instead of thousands upon thousands
 
Lol, this is a true concern, not athletes getting real grades for fake classes. What is "woman" in Swahili?

Oh yes. UNC with their fake class scandal. Wasn't their defense basically "Those classes were available to everyone!" in order to avoid more significant NCAA sanctions. No extra benefits!
 
I find it stupidly amusing that calling someone a "chair" is better than something using "man" in it.

Oh yes, the thing the world puts its collective ass on is okay.
 
Oh yes. UNC with their fake class scandal. Wasn't their defense basically "Those classes were available to everyone!" in order to avoid more significant NCAA sanctions. No extra benefits!

Calipari is the only real criminal here.
 
I often wonder if the people who decide these things genuinely believe they are doing something good or if they feel they have to implement this but know damn well how silly it makes them look.

I work at a university and privately people always express their utter contempt at this kind of political correctness.
 
At this point wouldn`t it be easier to just change the meaning of MAN?

Then you only have one word to change instead of thousands upon thousands

The word "man" already is gender neutral.

Online Etymology Dictionary said:
O.E. man, mann "human being, person (male or female) . . . Sense of "adult male" is late (c.1000); O.E. used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man

So if people have such a problem with the word "man" being used to describe "males" then it's not that the word "man" should change - it's that the word "wer/were" needs to be reincorporated into the language.
 
I'm personally of the opinion that no matter which way you approach this from, it's not a big deal and really isn't newsworthy. On the one hand, I don't think many people were probably all that bothered by 'freshman', so "why bother?" isn't an altogether unreasonable question. But on the other, if even one person was remotely bothered by it, changing the documentation is a simple "Find & Replace" endeavor, so it also seems pointless to react as though this was a gargantuan undertaking that was enacted at the expense of more pressing concerns.

I completely agree. I doubt that this calls into question the priorities of the school at all, since it's a pretty minor change.
 
Just reminds me of that amazing series of "children's books" that modified everything to be less "sexist" including using herstory, etc. Loved those books.

Herstory is a thing? Poor Herodotus.

genjiZERO said:
So if people have such a problem with the word "man" being used to describe "males" then it's not that the word "man" should change - it's that the word "wer/were" needs to be reincorporated into the language.

So that's where werewolf and other similar words come from, interesting.
 
Liberalism run amok. This is what happens when we have whole disciplines that really don't produce anything but thrive on being offended. It's a cottage industry for a lot of people.
 
I'm always surprised with how defensive people get about this stuff. People act like their gender is under attack or something.
 
I find it stupidly amusing that calling someone a "chair" is better than something using "man" in it.

Oh yes, the thing the world puts its collective ass on is okay.
Couches are going to feel discriminated against, too.

For me it's gonna be easier when reading about American education. I never understood what "freshman" or "sophomore" means, and didn't feel like googling it.
 
I'm always surprised with how defensive people get about this stuff. People act like their gender is under attack or something.

We talking about the males in this thread or the potential group of people offended over the word "freshman"?
 
We talking about the males in this thread or the potential group of people offended over the word "freshman"?

The solution to one is to take five minutes to send a memo that says that Freshman is no longer a sanctioned term. The solution to the other...well, God, who knows -- revolution?
 
*sighs at all of the knee-jerking*

This seems perfectly fine.

No, it doesn't. You can't please everyone. That's what businesses and universities don't understand. Some people are going to be offended no matter what decisions are made. Making widespread change to appease a small group of people that are offended over something is never a good idea.
 
No, it doesn't. You can't please everyone. That's what businesses and universities don't understand. Some people are going to be offended no matter what decisions are made. Making widespread change to appease a small group of people that are offended over something is never a good idea.

People get offended at a lot of things. I just have a hard time finishing this sentence with anything that isn't overly defensive:

"I'm offended that they've stopped using the word Freshman because..."
 
No, it doesn't. You can't please everyone. That's what businesses and universities don't understand. Some people are going to be offended no matter what decisions are made. Making widespread change to appease a small group of people that are offended over something is never a good idea.

This isn't a widespread change. It hurts nobody. There is no reason to get all bent out of shape over it.
 
People get offended at a lot of things. I just have a hard time finishing this sentence with anything that isn't overly defensive:

"I'm offended that they've stopped using the word Freshman because..."

And the converse is true.

"I'm offended that they continue to use the word Freshman because..."

How can you conclude that statement without looking overly defensive?
 
Can I say it is silly and not be labeled knee-jerk or reactionary?

Edit:
To clarify
The University of North Carolina (pictured above) dropped the term “freshman” in an effort to adopt more “gender neutral language.”

Freshman is gender neutral. They changed from one gender neutral term to another gender neutral term in order to be more gender neutral.

That is silly to me.
 
I'm always surprised with how defensive people get about this stuff. People act like their gender is under attack or something.

Intelligence and common sense are under attack by idiots who think this is something worth addressing. Not only is it not worth addressing, it's not an issue. It's only an issue for people who somehow think having "man" at the end of a word somehow means the word defers to men first. It refers to a human, not a man, and we shouldn't have to change things just because some people don't know that. Our society shouldn't defer to the thoughts and opinions of the lowest common denominator.
 
We talking about the males in this thread or the potential group of people offended over the word "freshman"?

I was talking about the people in this thread, but I see how that could be taken either way. :P Seriously, no one is making a word illegal or anything.
 
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