|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Apr 18, 2022 11:17:12 GMT
“In 1963, an Austrian entomologist named Herbert Heran and the German behavioral scientist, Martin Lindauer, noticed something peculiar in the way honeybees zoom through the air.”
In the above sentence, I have been trying to decide whether the choice of indefinite and definite articles makes a difference to the meaning of the sentence and, if so, what is the difference? I suspect the choice was accidental but I am wondering. It seems to me to imply that Lindauer was a more reputed scientist than Heran?
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Apr 18, 2022 12:32:51 GMT
LJH: I see it similarly.
I'd go for a the in both instances, thereby giving the men equal weight.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Miller on Apr 18, 2022 22:24:29 GMT
I understand from the sentence that the author expected the reader to know of Martin Lindauer as a behavioural scientist, but not necessarily of Herbert Heran.
I’d drop the commas around Martin Lindauer, though. They place his name as a parenthesis, so that the main sentence reads “… Herbert Heran and the German behavioural scientist noticed something peculiar …”. (Surely there might be more than one German behavioural scientist!)
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Apr 19, 2022 7:56:38 GMT
A colourful snippet of history: the Parsley Massacre when mispronunciation was a life or death matter. – MispronOUnciation of a shibboleth cost people their lives.Both the orthography and the speech of mispronunciation are commonly mangled, even once on a YouTube ‘English for NESB Foreigners’ video – a shibboleth too far, methought.
|
|
|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Apr 25, 2022 11:40:58 GMT
We, in the UK, have been amusing ourselves by wondering who might replace Boris Johnson as prime minister. There is no consensus on the subject. The conversations led around to the idea of gender neutrality and what might be a suitable gender neutral word for “statesman”. None of us could think of a suitable word. To me, a statesman is someone who demonstrates personal presence, judgement, integrity and, at least potentially, international recognition. Words such as politician, diplomat, political leader and so on don’t suffice.
Any ideas?
I have had a look at a couple of websites which offer suggestions about these things but, often, the suggestions are not synonyms for the gendered word. For example an angler is not the same as a fisherman. An alderman is not the same as a council member. A handyman is not the same as a repair technician.
It is an issue that we have discussed previously but it has not gone away or been resolved. There has been controversy recently about a decision to refer to male cricketers as batters rather than batsmen but I think no one has suggested suitable gender neutral alternatives to third man and twelfth man. I recently watched a television programme about women serving in the Royal Navy. Several of the women interviewed were each proud to be called an “able seaman”.
We are no nearer to deciding on gender neutral pronouns. I frequently book to participate in webinars and I was recently asked to specify, without the option not to specify, my requirement to identify as he/his or she/her.
But I would like opinions about a suitable gender neutral alternative to statesman.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Apr 25, 2022 13:06:42 GMT
Statesperson? Cumbersome perhaps, but the best I can do while sitting on the beach in Cypt.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Apr 25, 2022 13:07:31 GMT
Cyprus
|
|