The article had me until it basically said using "he" in documentation makes you an asshole. It does not. Period. You can say it's better to use they, and I would even agree with it. But the article did not stop there.
There is a prescriptivist movement that has branded the use of a generic "he" as not generic and therefore sexist. I refuse to feel guilty because someone else has decided that they can declare language to have officially changed, and dictate what I meant by words I used.
I guess it depends whether calling figurative-you hostile is itself hostile. Is it offering advice on how to communicate better, or implying that figurative-you is an asshole? You could interpret it either way.
Comments
"perceived hostility" is not "hostility"
The article had me until it basically said using "he" in documentation makes you an asshole. It does not. Period. You can say it's better to use they, and I would even agree with it. But the article did not stop there.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/he
There is a prescriptivist movement that has branded the use of a generic "he" as not generic and therefore sexist. I refuse to feel guilty because someone else has decided that they can declare language to have officially changed, and dictate what I meant by words I used.
I don't think that the author intended any hostility towards you.
touche
...
Although it's hard to read the following as not calling a figurative-me hostile, for my choice of pronoun.
I guess it depends whether calling figurative-you hostile is itself hostile. Is it offering advice on how to communicate better, or implying that figurative-you is an asshole? You could interpret it either way.