Shutterstock
The European Parliament wants to MAN-ipulate how English is spoken, and is advocating that words containing “MAN” be replaced with more gender neutral terms.
They claim that it’s more than a case of political correctness, but rather a recognition of how “language powerfully reflects and influences attitudes, behavior and perceptions.”
The European Parliament is urging that words that contain “man” be replaced with gender neutral terms. Specifically, they want to avoid the “generic use of man.” They are recommending the use of gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language.
The European Union wants to end the following words and replace them with alternatives:
However, it should also be noted that these rules also apply to many “woman” words such as businesswoman, chairwoman, policewoman, etc.
Even though the UK is leaving the EU, The European Parliament issued a guidebook, or a style guide if you will, with its own grammatical rules for the use of the English language.
It is interesting that it overrides some commonly adhered to British rules of English usage and is also quite different to American English rules.
You can obtain a copy of the guidebook here.
