Eliminate "him"? "her"?

Be sure to read this morning's Associated Press (AP) article about a pre-school in Sweden that is trying to eliminate the use of "him" and "her". They think that will stop gender bias.

I recall a day in about 1974 when I was about ready to ... (OK, I won't say it here; I'd hate for the Department of Homeland Security to be knocking on my door in 15 minutes). I was engaged in conversation with a neighbor in Denver who worked for the U.S. Government. She had just told me that she was earning $34,000/year (remember; that was 1974) and her job was to go through government manuals and change "him" to "him or her" and "he" to "he or she".

At that time I was busting my tail trying to earn a decent living in sales, and here was this government worker earning a lot of money doing stupid, senseless and unnecessary work.

There is at least one smart person in Sweden. Said Tanja Bergkvist, a 37-year-old blogger who is described in the AP article as "a leading voice against what she (Bergkvist) calls 'gender madness' in Sweden", "Different gender roles aren't problematic as long as they are equally valued."

What does the pre-school staff use, instead of "him" and "her"? "Friends."

And people wonder why my Facebook Friends aren't my "friends". I have friends; they know who they are. Just because someone (perhaps someone I don't even know) wants to be a "Friend" on Facebook, doesn't make him (oops, him or her) my friend. Nahhhh, "him" includes her.

Go on; accuse me of gender bias. I double-dog dare you.