I've noticed that as well and usually in the negative, in that what is lacking becomes important.Greta wrote: I don't know why you are being so pushy and grumpy over something that seems trivial. Its not as though I'm running around castigating people for the use of "straw man". I believe in "live and let live". Do you? Or have I caught you on a bad day? The term has never been important to me and I'm sure I've occasionally said "straw man" unthinkingly over the years.
Interestingly, now that you have challenged me on "straw person" I feel a sense of resolve about using the term that was not there before. I doubt that I will unthinkingly use the gendered term "straw man" again as there will now always be a conscious element attached to the term for me. That's how the brain works - whatever we focus on is amplified in our minds.
Yes I've been having a bad day since Sunday evening, but mostly it's the misuse of the language that bothers me. Any term that ends in "man" usually includes both genders already, so I don't see the need to change it to be Politically correct.
I can see where this whole thing goes back to the left wing liberals campaign that no child should experience failure and tried to convince teachers to eliminate the failing grade. To me this just brought children up with unrealistic expectations that they would never fail no matter what they tried, I agree that it is important to encourage children to try different things to find out what they can do best, but I do not agree that they should succeed at everything. Some things they just can't do well and should have a realistic understanding of the world.