Human kind sounds lame

[quinnox]

I was reading a thread where they said a lot of words are being phased out due to political correctness. I couldn't believe it when I saw mankind mentioned as being replaced by humankind. LAME!

Humankind sounds stupid and is too much of a mouthful, mankind is much more elegant sounding.

Sorry but I will continue to say mankind, this is getting ridiculous.

Edit: I just looked up mankind in Websters dictionary online and there it is!

1\ˈman-ˈkīnd, -ˌkīnd\ : the human race : the totality of human beings
2\-ˌkīnd\ : men especially as distinguished from women

It doesn't say archaic either. So it appears mankind is still perfectly acceptable to use in modern language. Thankfully!

[Kalyke]

1. What's ridiculous is that women are more than half of the population,

yet our contributions default to the male.

Since there are more of us than there are of you, why don't we can it Womankind?

[left coaster]

18. Yes, Womankind does make more sense, given we are the majority..

..and it'll be interesting to read the responses to that idea.

[Bicoastal]

22. Human, humane, humanity...do we have to alter those words too just to spare your feelings?

Language is bigger than you or me.

[geardaddy]

44. man, mane, and manity?

or is that manatee?

:rofl:

[11 Bravo]

51. Yes, I depersond it!

[Bicoastal]

53. OK, OK, I get t(s)he point.

[quinnox]

26. womankind is too much of a mouthful

mankind is two syllables and sounds good, humankind and womankind are too clumsy sounding.

[Bicoastal]

27. SCREW beauty and art!

We must bow to our gender-neutral overlords!

[Bicoastal]

21. It's a word--an innocuous, non-derogatory word.

Plenty of words in our language are literally inaccurate or have antiquated derivations. In this case, the "man" in mankind represents a linguistic era when the word was used to represent the entire homo sapiens species as well as the male gender; "All men are created equal" is a reflection of this usage.

"Human" is a newer term (although you'll notice it still has the word "man" in it.) But the evolution of language does NOT happen overnight, and it's ridiculous to try to force it.

[BurtWorm]

67. Different forces act on language. Some subtle, some not so subtle.

There's no point in telling people not to try to influence language. They'll do it anyway, and some of them might actually succeed.

[Bicoastal]

I have no problem with anyone using the new word, as long as they don't complain

about me using--and yes, preferring the old word.

[BurtWorm]

49. Wrong place to post.

Carry on.

:patriot:

(PS: I meant I posted in the wrong place, not you. In case that wasn't clear. Please, again, carry on.)

[HeresyLives]

2. Wait till we go to 'gentlebeings'.

Personally I like 'humankind'. You'll get used to it.

[quinnox]

5. no, its mankind for me

I won't say humankind its too lame.

[HeresyLives]

9. Well, you're male. LOL

But you'll get used to it anyway. :)

[HeresyLives]

72. LOL until people call you lame for being outdated.

[quinnox]

78. we'll see

I haven't seen humankind much yet in popular use, I doubt it will win over mankind completely.

[HeresyLives]

82. Change is hard when you get old.

It is in popular use elsewhere....I haven't heard 'mankind' in years tho.

[quinnox]

95. evidence doesn't back you

I just googled mankind and got 35 million hits, humankind got 4.5 million. Try it for yourself.

Sounds like you have a lot of wishful thinking behind your argument...

[HeresyLives]

97. Yeah it does.

And 'google'...another 'new' thing, is not the ultimate judge of anything.

[MilesColtrane]

50. I prefer "meatbags".

Our synthetic overlords will eventually use that. We should get used to it now.

[Bicoastal]

57. Are you this guy?

[GodlessBiker]

3. How about just "humanity," which I will now use in a sentence: "This is a big step for humanity."

[quinnox]

8. thats better than humankind but still not as good

as mankind in how it rolls of the tongue.

[GodlessBiker]

19. Sometimes the right thing to do isn't the easiest thing to do.

[Motown_Johnny]

12. +2

[knowbody0]

4. human beans!

[Hissyspit]

13. Refried and spread on a cracker of Soylent Green.

Yum.

[Hissyspit]

6. 'Mankind' as terminology has been dated for quite some time now.

I say 'humankind' 'humanity' or 'people.' It's not a big deal.

[Ozymanithrax]

7. pity this busy monster, manunkind

pity this busy monster, manunkind

pity this busy monster, manunkind,

not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)

plays with the bigness of his littleness
--- electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
A world of made
is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh

and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical

ultraomnipotence. We doctors know

a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go

ee cummings

[Hissyspit]

11. I think he meant 'humanunkind.'

:evilgrin:

[Ozymanithrax]

17. You, know, you may be right...Though e.e. cummings liked to push things.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. mankind sounds stupid to me ... Humankind is silly, you could just say "Humans"

and it is the same thing.


Why use the term "mankind" at all? Can't we just say "people" or something similar?

[Brickbat]

14. LMAO.

On International Women's Day, too.

I'm glad to see the use of the word "mankind" shrinking.

ETA: You might want to educate yourself on the basic rules of grammar and spelling, before you start playing with usage and word choice.

[MineralMan]

15. Doesn't sound lame to me. I've been using humankind for over

35 years as a freelance magazine and web content writer. I've never included the word "mankind" in anything I've written. Removing unnecessary gender-specific terms from my writing is something I've been very conscientious about since I started.

At one point, a review of mine of Word for Windows forced Microsoft to alter the synonyms in its thesaurus. I called them out for the disparity in the synonyms for "man" and "woman". At the time, "man" produced a long list of useful synonyms. "Woman" produced words like "dame" and "wife" and other words with sexist connotations. The magazine I worked for published a screen shot of the two. Microsoft screamed at us loudly, but changed the thesaurus, which was one used by several software programs.

It's been a campaign of mine for many, many years.

[Subdivisions]

23. 'Removing unnecessary gender-specific terms from my writing

is something I've been very conscientious about since I started."

Me too.

[MineralMan]

25. Well, I figured that both men and women would be reading

whatever I wrote for public consumption, so why would I want to risk alienating either.

I did alienate some assholes, though. That same computer magazine I wrote for used to get letters from readers once in a while, complaining about the "PC" nature of my writing. I loved that. So did the editor of the magazine, who was a woman.

N.B.: The magazine had "PC" in its title - a nice irony.

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. Humanoid works for me because you can then include freepers.

Anything with "kind" in it would certainly have to exclude freepers.

[Ozymanithrax]

20. Make it Hukind. Take the man out of "Humankind."

[Bicoastal]

24. "OH THE HUITY!"

[seabeyond]

28. male? male? could it possibly be you are male? this is not an argument for me

i switch it up. if it is a subject that is particularly masculine i use mankind. if it is more nurturing humankind feels absolutely elegant and graceful for me

but no

i am not at all surprised that a male would not appreciate humankind as opposed to mankind.

do you think your gender might have an effect on the way you feel about this?

do you think it may behoove you on growth and insight to actually reflect why it is so unnatural for you to see humankind in a like, respectful manner as mankind?

or not

[Bicoastal]

30. By and large, words are what each of us see them as.

That's why there's always 2 or 3 slightly different definitions in the dictionary. Clearly, thanks to centuries of usage, not everyone sees the word "mankind" the exact same way. Yours is a valid opinion, as is the OP's.

But most of the time, when it comes to language, there are no 100% right answers. It's more art than science--and I'm against allowing art to be censored for "the greater good."

[seabeyond]

32. as i say, not a huge issue for me. i tweak it as i see fit. but to use a word a lifetime then

declare to use an alternate word in its place as awkward is a no shit... of course it is going to be awkward. but there are reasons

but yes

sometimes the old of mankind is exactly what i want in my choice of words. i say old cause i use mankind also in looking back and humankind looking forward

that is as natural for me as the op using mankind simply cause he has all his life

[Bicoastal]

37. Sure. Who am I to question? And btw, I think humankind is a terrible word...

...because it's totally redundant. If you notice, the root "man" is still inside the word "human," and linguistically it means exactly what it does at the beginning of the word "mankind." Its adaption as a more gender-neutral word is completely superficial, and I think it largely has to do with the fact that we don't pronounce that syllable the same way in both cases. On paper, the word "humankind" is identical to "mankind"--just a little longer and with a fancy Latin pedigree. (Some would quibble with sandwiching a latin word with a German suffix. Whatevs.)

But as long as no one forces me to use it, it'll be interesting to see if it catches on.

[HeresyLives]

81. Now you're playing Humpty Dumpty.

"A word means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less" Humpty Dumpty

[Bicoastal]

90. Substitute the word "we" for the word "I," and ol' Humpty would be right. nt

[HeresyLives]

92. And who is the 'we'?

Words have precise meanings, you don't just get to make up meanings that suit you.

[Bicoastal]

99. We is ALL OF US. All of humanity and huwomanity.

Words are defined, changed, invented, abandoned over long periods of time. Precise meanings? Give me a break. Ask 50 people the meaning of the word "soul," you'd get 50 different responses. This is why the dictionary keeps changing to reflect the times and differences in opinion...

"Words have precise meanings, you don't just get to make up meanings that suit you." Seems to me like if you asked every person on this board what "mankind" means, the answer would be far from "precise."

More art than science--every writer knows this.

[HeresyLives]

103. No, t'ain't.

Words are changed every day. And yes, dictionaries exist so people know the precise meaning of those words.

What do you write? Shakespeare, the sequels??

[Bicoastal]

105. I wrote a show that will be performed off-off-Broadway this summer in Manhattan.

And that's as far as I'm going to get into it.

And for the record, Shakespeare changed words, invented words, played with words, brought back old words, ignored new words, etc. like crazy. If there WAS a dictionary back in his time, which there wasn't, he would have scribbled all over it.

[HeresyLives]

29. On your edit: Who wrote the dictionary? LOL

[Bicoastal]

31. You mean, who is WRITING the dictionary?

It changes every year.

[HeresyLives]

36. And keeps old original meanings

dreamed up by men.

[Bicoastal]

38. By and large, the dictionary doesn't dictate language--it RECORDS.

That's why spellings change over the years and why new definitions and new words are added. And there are an awful lot of people out there--ordinary, well-meaning people of both sexes--who use "mankind."

Maybe they'll abandon the word someday, but it's not for the dictionary to choose (and not for us either.)

[HeresyLives]

39. Yes, it records language from centuries ago.

And yes of course it's for us to choose and change. English is a living language, and has always changed.

[Bicoastal]

40. Right. Meaning the OP's opinion is just as valid as yours.

[HeresyLives]

41. Meaning he'll have to get used to language change.

Especially since it now changes every day.

[Bicoastal]

43. And you'll ALSO have to get used to language sometimes not changing the way you want it to...

...or sometimes not changing at all.

All are possibilities.

[HeresyLives]

46. Forsooth, thou dost have a gormless worldview.

It has already changed.

If you two want to sound archaic it's your problem. :rofl:

[Bicoastal]

48. I also frequently use "the" even though it has the word "he" right in it...

...and that's a seriously old word.

I'm pretty archaic, I suppose. Call me an arachnid.

[HeresyLives]

58. Wellaway, verily tis thy wanion,

to have 8 legs!

[Posteritatis]

69. What's this singular stuff? There's any number of the things. (nt)

[Bicoastal]

74. Yeah, but I didn't want to digress to far from the point I was trying to make.

[Posteritatis]

76. Fair enough! (nt)

[Cerridwen]

33. The 19th Century "Christian Conservatives" called. They want their ideology back.

<snip>

Certain Conservatives objected, and quoted the statutes, which provide that "he" may do this and that "his" acts are legal but say nothing about "she" or "her."

<snip>

No wonder that the female population of the Old Bay State is largely in excess--ladies are human, and like the "rest of mankind" are apt to go where they will be well treated.

link

[daleo]

34. To boldly go where no man has gone before

To boldly go where noone has gone before.

I got used to it pretty quick - it sounds fine now.

[MilesColtrane]

66. "To boldly go where noone has gone before."

He's a Hermit. He doesn't get out much.

[Warpy]

35. Since I don't do formal writing, especially textbooks,

I use "people." It's easy to say, easy to type, and is all inclusive.

[tekisui]

42. How about Earthling?

[HeresyLives]

47. Well, until the aliens arrive and integrate I guess....

;)

[geardaddy]

52. Doesn't that include animals, too?

[quinnox]

56. good one

I like earthling.

[flvegan]

45. I just use the word CHUD for the lot of you.

[BurtWorm]

54. Are we all men or all humans? Why should referring to us all as humankind be lame?

It's really lame to hold onto things for no good reason, and your reason is really no good in this case.

Get used to the sound of humankind, because that's what we all are.

[Bicoastal]

62. Language is a democracy. Let the people decide...

...and yes, I said PEOPLE.

[HeresyLives]

65. Obviously they are doing so.

[Bicoastal]

73. Well, there isn't anything approaching a consesus yet.

But I wish proponents of this sort of thing all sorts of luck, and there's NO sarcasm there. It's a valiant thing to want to change a language for the better...

I won't attempt to censor them if they don't censor me. The day DU adopts a no-tolerance rule to the word "humanity" and others like it is the day I leave this place...

[HeresyLives]

75. Not on this thread, but in the world, yes.

Language is neither sacred, nor set in cement. It changes by the day. You personally may speak any version of English you like, you'll just be looked at askance. LOL

[Bicoastal]

83. Are you saying that NO ONE on this planet except for me and a few other Neanderthals...

...says "mankind" anymore?

A simple Google search will tell you that's not true.

[HeresyLives]

85. Pretty much.

It's slowly disappearing.

I have no idea why there's even a question about it.

Did somebody ask for the word to be banned or what?

Must be some reason why you're 'manning' the ramparts about one word. LOL

[Bicoastal]

88. Proof?

[HeresyLives]

91. You live in Brooklyn.

I doubt you get to hear much worldlanguage version there.

Some travel is in order...or listening to a lot of speeches worldwide by English speakers.

Hell just go to the UK, you won't understand half of what is said to you. LOL

[Bicoastal]

102. I'm still waiting for your proof, and New York City is pretty damn diverse...

...considering that people from all over the country and world live there and visit there and speak the language (sometimes.)

If a common word is frequently used in New York City, I can't imagine it'd be out of style with the rest of the world.

[HeresyLives]

104. Um...other Americans is not the world.

And yes, lots of things said in NY are out of style.

I know you guys think you're the centre of the universe and all, but...

:rofl:

[pipi_k]

55. I like "Peeps"...short, simple, gender neutral

:7

[Bicoastal]

59. I AM NOT A THIS!

[pipi_k]

64. Lucky for you...

Because then I'd have to pluck your eyes out and bite your squishy little head off.


Don't even ask what would happen if you were a marshmallow bunny...

:scared:

[MilesColtrane]

68. Eeewww

That looks like something that came out of a clown.

[HeresyLives]

60. And marshmallowy.

[frogmarch]

61. I like "humankind" better

than "mankind." "Humankind" not only sounds more elegant to me, but it's accurate. Our species is not composed of just men, for cripes sake.

[Xithras]

63. We could always just bring back Wer.

In old English, Man simply meant a gender neutral "human". Wer meant a male, and wæp (pronounced wehb) was a female. When referring to the gender, it was werman and wæpman.

Somehow, several hundred years ago, the wer was dropped and males simply took over "Man". The females remained wæpman's, which evolved into "women" over time.

This is why Man has a double meaning in our language. It was gender neutral at first, but then the men glommed onto it. Maybe, instead of changing the references to the species as a whole, we should just change the reference to the minority sex to eliminate this kind of confusion.

[Marr]

70. Mankind sounds too nice. We really need to come up with a better sounding name before

we start getting into alien wars. I suggest "Tigersharkians".

[quinnox]

71. lol

good one.

[The2ndWheel]

77. Interchangeable and easily replaced parts of the machine

True, a little long, but it works.

"That's one small step for parts, one giant leap for interchangeable and easily replaced parts of the machine."

[HeresyLives]

79. Wouldn't that be

'That's one small step for a part, one giant leap for the machine?'

Happy Technological Singularity, btw. ;)

[quinnox]

80. lol you guys are something else

Now THAT is a mouthful. I'd love Neil Armstrong to have said that.

[Quantess]

84. Go ahead and keep on saying mankind, like an outdated codger.

Be proud of your adherence to traditional gender-exclusive language.

Do you really think anyone is impressed that you still say "mankind" and are making a statement about it, like you're such an old-school-rebel? I would be embarrassed to post such an inane OP.

[quinnox]

87. nope

I'm not trying to impress anyone. You seriously think humankind rolls of the tongue as smoothly as mankind?

COME ON!

It sounds like you want to ban the word mankind from the dictionary. Hell, go and burn some books to get your point across!

[Quantess]

94. LOL, I truly don't give a fig

whether you say mankind or humankind, because both are commonly spoken. It's more conventional to say mankind, yet more inclusive to say humankind. You don't really win points either way.

I'm still embarrassed on behalf of you, for your OP. Go rock the old-school, you rebel, you.

[quinnox]

98. Well glad we came to an agreement

I'll keep saying mankind and you can say humankind.

Sounds good to me, and no book burnings need take place.

[Quantess]

100. You're pretty funny.

I seriously got a laugh out of this, and I hope you can, too. :D

[quinnox]

101. heh

agreed!

[kestrel91316]

86. I got chided already this AM for using the term "mankind". Some people need to get a life.

[quinnox]

89. Exactly

Jesus, the way some of these folks are going on its like they want to ban the word mankind.

[HeresyLives]

93. You're the one that raised it as an issue.

[KamaAina]

96. Mankind sounds sexist

and "lame" sounds ableist. :P

[chocolate ink]

106. man vs human

I've been using humankind for close to 30 years(since the 80's)when it started to come into use so I'm not sure why this would be news to you. When I now hear 'mankind' I cringe and I mean that quite literally as it sounds rather strange and outdated to me.

If I remember correctly the use of humankind is somehow tied into a Christmas phrase in my mind...'Peace on Earth Goodwill To All Men'....which went out of use also when 'Men' got dropped and it simply became 'Peace On Earth Goodwill to All....which is to use your word, much more elegant.

Language and word usage is an always changing form of communication and fascinating to follow..from how word use changes to even the meaning of words which can change.