The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #37513   Message #523430
Posted By: Mrrzy
08-Aug-01 - 09:47 AM
Thread Name: Sexist lyric? Change it or ....?
Subject: RE: Sexist lyric? Change it or ....?
"In the English language the noun men is inclusive of women" - not any more in usage, and rightly so. But that doesn't mean that you can't explain that it used to and then sing the song anyway. MY kids wonder where the women are in songs about "men" - and rightly so. Same as songs that use the word Gay to mean Happy, when children nowadays think you mean Gay, the way the word is used (usage defining meaning, to me, rather than some dusty old grammar primer that would define it as all-inclusive) today, which means homosexual; I just explain that it used to mean happy and keep going. Why not include the history?