e Ont of the. Norm eo

\

BY GOLLY. I've seen the light. Yes, J have! Here I've been
a sexist scribe al! these years and never once realized that my
mean-spirited and thoughtless prose was tweaking weaker
sensibilities with less stronger stomachs than my own.

But no more. ‘ve seen the light.
Hallelujah! (ni a new man ... errr,
person. Pass the marmalade. Hon.

{’m areborn writer, and | owe
this rebirth ane ievelation to a4 gal,
errr, person, by name of Joanne
Pohn. It seem: that Jo.Po. is the
communication: officer — a pretty
important title that demands some
respect, if you ask me — of an
organization called the National
Watch on Images of Women in the
Media.

Hey, we're talking heavy stuff
here, and I know you'll agree that
with a title and a cause like that,
when Jo.Po. speaks, others had
better listen up and listen good.
That means you. too, pilgrim!

Jo.Po. the communications of-
ficer really socked it to a city daily
across the pond recently in a scor-
ching fetter to the editor. Boy, I'll
bet the backs of his eyeballs are
still burning and smarting with
shame, sexist pig that he is, or was.
I just hope he, like me, has now
seen the light. Hallelujah! Praise
be to Gloria! Migawd, it feels good
to be pure and wholesome again.

Jo.Po. gives it to this guy real
good when she writes that she and
her bosom buddies caught his
paper napping and guilty of com-
mitting the atrocious sin of
publishing ‘‘numerous instances of
sexist language.’’

No shoddy slip-ups will sneak by
this sharp eye. | mean you don’t
get to be a communications officer
unless you can stick handle your
way through a lexicon, and Jo.Po.
can wave a big stick with the best

of them, It seems these sexist slips
were all found in a Feb. 15th edi-
tion. Jo.Po., you're all heart.

She sure knows her stuff.

Jo.Po. delivers a swift kick to
the editor’s tendermost area when
she writes: ‘‘The eighth guideline

N. Van golf course

boosters optimistic

THE CHAIRMAN of a group
lobbying for a public golf course in
North Vancouver says the pro-
posed Northlands Golf Course is
**75§ per cent of the way” to being
given the green light.

By BOB MACKIN Jr.
Contributing Writer

But Don Davis of the North
Vancouver Public Golf Course
Society says the process should be
speeded up to keep the proposed
centennial project on track.

Davis is waiting for a May
report by North Vancouver
District staff on the environmental
impact on the proposed golf course
site north of Mount Seymour
Parkway, as well as construction,
administration and financial con-
cerns.

At a meeting last month, council
received a report from consultant
Peter Wendt and also agreed 10
continue negocations with Cressey
Development and United Proper-
ties regarding compensation for
land they own on the former rifle
range.

Wendt’s report estimates the
construction cost of a 144-ucre,
18-hole course at Northlands at
$3.27 million, plus nearly $3 mil-
lion more for a clubhouse, land-
scaping and parking lot.

The report also recommended
allocating 88 acres for residential

See Lobbyists
Page 11

of The Canadian Press Stylebook,
the standard industry stylebook. —
‘Avoid stereotyping jobs and ca-
reers’ — was violated at least three
times.**

What follows are a few examples
of the violations Jo.Po. and her
crew of skirted stalwarts unearthed
as they sifted through the dirty
dregs of type, so readers should be
warned.

Do not read any further unless
all children are first safely out of
the room and out of hearing.
Those innocents with weaker sen-
sitivities should also be given the
option of leaving, while smelling
salts and a generous glass of strong
drink should be set near the elderly
in case of emergency.

All readers should be seated,
and preferably strapped down to
prevent serious injury should they
have a sudden seizure by doubling
up and falling to the floor.

Remember, you've been warned.
So take a deep breath before pro-
ceeding.

You’re not going to believe this,
dear readers, but in this enlighten-
ed day and age of word neutering
and language sanitization, this
aforementioned daily paper actual-
ly used the word ‘‘fishermen."’
Yes, it did!

I can just hear and sense the
massive intake of air now being
sucked in, in your incredulity over
that shocking revelation. I know
it’s hard to believe, my friends, but
Jo.Po. and her diligent diggers
swear it’s true. And you just have
to believe a communications of-
ficer.

What in the heck is the world
coming to when fish and men are
mixed together in the same word

* soup? But wait, there’s more. I’m
sorry, but it's true. So you had
better hold on to something for

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The use of ‘*fishermen"’ was bad
enough. but the words
“longshoremern™ and ‘‘firemen’’
were also uncovered by their trow-
els, their sexist barbs and hooks
catching in the mesh of the good
ladies’ nylon sifting screens.

For shame, shaine, Mr. Editor,
sir. Have you no scruples? What
next? Doormen, instead of
doorsters? Handyman, instead of
usefulguy? Sandman, instead of
sand spreader (surely you haven’t
forgotten that hit tune of yester-
day; *‘Mister Sand Spreader, bring
me a dream ...)?

The next thing we know you'll
be wanting to go back to using the
old sexist ‘Superman’ in place of
“Clark Kent’s alter ego.”* Brevity,
sir, is no excuse for sexism and bad
taste!

But that wasn’t ali, I'm sorry to
say.

Writes Jo.Po.: ‘In three in-
stances, the stylebook’s I 1th
guideline — ‘the generic man is
regarded by some as excluding
women’ — was violated...’’ My
stomach is getting all queasy, and |
don’t know how much more of
this I can take.

This editor — how he ever got to
be that or retain his position is a
mystery to both Jo.Po. and me —
actually used the word
*«mankind!"’ Can you believe
that?! What’s worse, he referred to
an army unit as a ‘*30-man pia-
toon,”’ and a group of gun-toting
bandits as ‘‘gunmen’’ instead of
Jo.Po.’s approved ‘‘gunsters.”’
Need 1] say more?!

I’m sorry, but I simply can’t go
on, Jo.Po. has certainly proved
herself to me. You, sir, are a cad!

I'm glad that I, for one, have
seen the light. It’s so good to be
good. Hallelujah! Praise be to
Gloria! Sic transit gloria mundi!
Sic transit gloria verbi! Sic transit
gloria homonis!

9 ~ Wednesday, April 18, 1990 - North Shore News

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