4.1060 Words: Ombudsman (5/65)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 20 Feb 91 21:59:57 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1060. Wednesday, 20 Feb 1991.
(1) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 11:32:09 +0100 (16 lines)
From: kjetilrh@gollum.uio.no
Subject: Degendering an ombudsman
(2) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 14:06:20 GMT (23 lines)
From: viden@logos.class.gu.se (Gunhild Viden)
Subject: Re: 4.1029, ombudsman
(3) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 1991 13:48:20 +0100 (11 lines)
From: Arvid Vollsnes <arvid@ifi.uio.no>
Subject: Re: OMBUDSMAN
(4) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 23:40 PST (7 lines)
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 4.1029 Queries
(5) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 09:07:26 EST (8 lines)
From: brad inwood <INWOOD@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: nomenclature
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 11:32:09 +0100
From: kjetilrh@gollum.uio.no
Subject: Degendering an ombudsman
James Woolley, Lafayette College, writes:
>A faculty committee working on grievance procedures here proposes
>to institute an ombudsman, but shy of using that word, suggests
>"ombudser." Can someone suggest a better solution?
In addition to "ombudsmann", Norwegian also uses the word "ombud", of
neuter gender, e.g. "Barneombudet" - "The children's ombudsman".
---- Kjetil Ra Hauge, Dept. of East European and Oriental studies
---- University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1030 Blindern, Oslo 3, Norway
---- Phone +47 2 456710 (+47 2 456797), fax +47 2 454310
---- E-mail kjetilrh@humanist.uio.no
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 14:06:20 GMT
From: viden@logos.class.gu.se (Gunhild Viden)
Subject: Re: 4.1029, ombudsman
"Ombudsman" Norwegian? In Sweden we pride ourselves of having
contributed two loanwords, with the things themselves, to English,
"ombudsman" and "smorgasbord"!
There is a lot of discussion going on about the gender problem of the
words ending in -man. The linguists agree that -man is gender neutral,
meaning simply "human being", just as there is an impersonal "man"
which can signify men and women alike. But there are feminists who do
not agree, and hence different solutions have been tried.
"Justeringsman", the person who contrasigns the minutes of a meeting,
is nowadays often a "justeringsperson"; I have never heard of an
"ombudsperson", though. Ombudser is a horror to my ears; the morphems
are om, bud, and man, with the -s- as a transition between morphems
two and three. The simplest solution would be just to say "ombud". In
Swedish there is a distinction: ombudsman is a technical term, whereas
ombud is anyone who does something instead of someone else (you can
vote through ombud, ask a question through ombud etc.). Ombudsperson
is also possible, though rather clumsy. But ombudser (or ombuder),
no!
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 1991 13:48:20 +0100
From: Arvid Vollsnes <arvid@ifi.uio.no>
Subject: Re: OMBUDSMAN 4.1029 Queries (6/88)
What about "ombudsperson".
I have seen it around here and in the US.
Arvid Vollsnes
Univ. of Oslo
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------246---
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 23:40 PST
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 4.1029 Queries (6/88)
To Wooley: how about "OMBUDDHIST"? OM FOR OMPADMI, NATCH. JOKING OF
COURSE. ALL IS FAIR IN NIRVANA LAND. KESSLER
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------14----
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 09:07:26 EST
From: brad inwood <INWOOD@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: nomenclature
Someone asked about gender-neutral terms for ombudsman. At the
University of Toronto she is called the ombudsperson -- officially and
on all the signs, as well as in conversation. The term is, in my view,
less than elegant but far preferable to any alternative I have heard.