Firefighter
Postfighter
Policefighter
Milkfighter
Garbagefighter
Businessfighter
Salesfighter
Chairfighter
Congressfighter
Sportsfighter
Handyfighter
Fisherfighter
Newsfighter
I would like to put forth a motion that "fighter" be defined as the gender neutral suffix for "person" in vocational compound words.
Ftr. Speaker, I will second the motion.
Postie. Problem solved.
Or equally valid, "that utter git, he didn't even knock, I've been in all day damn it!"
Although that is longer
Could just say FedEx driver.
Doesn't this deflate the argument a little? (Let me be at pains here to say this is not something I have or would argue about IRL) I'm totally happy to say "Mailcarrier" or similar, but don't the two middle panels totally validate the point that it's a gender-neutral term in the first place, and instead of proving sexists should do better instead proves it wasn't a sexist term all along?
I feel like the comic is intended to end on a bit of a zinger based on the comment of the man in the first panel, but really what it seems to do is replace a non-gendered term with a gendered one.
I think it's pointing out that nobody actually uses the Old English rules and therefore we shouldn't take the historical meaning of "mann" as "person, gender unspecified" to be a reasonable defence. Realistically, using "man" in this context absolutely does carry a male defaultness to it because we don't use a different term for "male post-person".
On the other hand, the alt text is "some day I'm gonna have a book in which every comic looks like it's going to be controversial but then goes all in on stupid", so it's possible the orange shirt character is just meant to be ridiculous in general
All good points. I admit (growing up in the 70s, and being male) I happily referred to women who were mailcarriers as "the mailman" for years and years before I was informed it was problematic. Functionally it always was gender neutral to me (much like congressman, etc).
While I have been (and remain) open to adjusting my vocabulary with the times and have generally sought to become more mindful in my choice of words, this particular ball of wax is always challenging for me because even as a kid I truly never thought of such words as actually specifying a man. So I tend to get really pedantic in trying to understand humor and memes that touch on those issues because thinking of the terms that way is still a bit of a manual (no pun intended) process for me.
various edits to fix a typo and provide clarity
Realistically, using "man" in this context absolutely does carry a male defaultness to it because we don't use a different term for "male post-person".
I disagree, we don't speak Latin either, but many of our current words are derived from Latin words, and those were introduced indirectly through French from the Norman invasion, but it's not like we're going to throw out all Latin roots because they no longer apply.
I'm fine with evolving our language, but I think it's silly to just throw out etymology and historical context entirely. I think "man" can have multiple meanings and be used as a gender neutral suffix, I'd never consider someone toxic for using it (unless they're just being as asshole about it).
You have correctly identified the hypocrisy. And the punch line.
I think the last zinger was just to make fun of the engineer trying to improve methods regardless of the use
I love this comic, partially because I've literally had this conversation and it makes me feel seen.
Just use Post Person and its shortened form PP.
Smbc is the best. Thank you for sharing :)
Female mail carriers will always be a mailman to me. It's been a gender neutral term my entire life, and I refuse to pretend it's offensive.
But don't you know that everything you do and say is sexist regardless of intent? Do understand that some of the attempt to change and challenge words is just demoralization.
Mail Lady, Mail Man.
Thanks for sharing!
No problem, just dropping in a few I saw recently :)
Holy shit it's Diego from JJBA
Permalink http://smbc-comics.com/comic/post
Wait! So were in werewolf is actually a word for man and means man-wolf
In my language a literal translation of mailman would be "letter carrier"
Apparently, in my language it translates into "post human"
