Mary-Claire Van Leunen writes about the use of pronouns.
“My expository style relies heavily on the exemplary singular, and the construction “everybody … his” therefore comes out frequently. This “his” is generic, not gendered. “His or her” becomes clumsy with repetition and suggests that “his” alone elsewhere is masculine, which it isn’t. “Her” alone draws attention to itself and distracts from the topic at hand.
“Their” solves the problem neatly but substitutes another. “Ter” is bolder than I am ready for. “One’s” defeats the purpose of the construction, which is meant to be vivid and particular. “Its” is too harsh for a joke.
Rather than play hob with the language, we feminists might adopt the position of pitying men for being forced to share their pronouns around.”
— Mary-Claire Van Leunen from A Handbook for Scholars
Hah! I love that passage!
Wooooo hooooo!
I just finished the Abstract and Conclusion of my thesis. Which means all I have left is the Acknowledgements and Appendices. And then I can spend the entire night editing a hundred and eleven pages of math.
Livin’ the life, baby, livin’ the life.
Five copies are due for the committee bright and early tomorrow.
I made my daily visit to the secretary’s office.
“Sup’,” she said.
“I need your opinion on something. I have this 40% final project due in 15 minutes. And I don’t know which title page to use. You know, because I’m always so keen on the important things.”
“Show me wotcha’ got.”
“Okay, so here’s the one I like.”
She cackles.
“…but you know, I think it’s a bit too risqué.”
” — Right, what class is this for?”
“Exactly my point! This is supposed to be a graduate level class. You know, serious project about serious things in fluid mechanics. Grown-up and matooore Ph.D. and Master’s students, presenting their academic studies in a no-frills and austere fashion.”
“But you toned it down, did you?”
“Sure did. I took my overwhelming Phil-ness, then cropped and resized it by twenty percent. I got this:
“Booooooring.”
“I KNOW!”
“Go with funny. Funny is good.”
“You know, that’s what I think. But I don’t want to risk offending anybody.”
“Honestly, why are you in math, again?”
“Sometimes, I don’t even know.”
You will watch this video.
You will crap your pants.
You will bow down to the awesomeness of his yo-yoing.
That was Hiroyuki Suzuki at the Worlds Yo-Yo Contest in 2006.
Professional Yo-Yoer is the coolest profession. Ever.