The nature of wizards

[Fred Gilham]

David Messer writes:
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 >
 >>Why do you use 'she'?
 >
 >A better question is, "Why not?"

To which the answer is:  "To avoid confusing the reader by
using a gender-specific pronoun where proper English usage is
to use a gender-unspecified pronoun, namely 'he.'"

This is a a good example of the damage caused by trying to
change the language to suit a political adgenda -- here we
are totally sidetracked from the point you made about
wizards.
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I've always thought the best solution was to use something like the
English do when they refer to children etc.: it.  As in

``A true wizard is not only well-informed and experienced.  It is also
gracious and generous.  It patiently answers questions that
lesser....''

If people say it (`it', that is) often enough, the ear will adapt.
Much more literary than he/she, (s)he, or whatever.  Much less
distracting than `he' to feminists or `she' to non-feminists.

This discussion is getting awfully miscelleneous, though.
--
Fred Gilham    gilham at csl.sri.com
I am professionally trained only in computer science, which is to say
(in all seriousness) that I am extremely poorly educated.
                                         --Joseph Wiezenbaum