Not being sexist, but...

[viv1969]

So is my wife

Which puts your breeding strategy into question.

 

[chris954]

Pretty sure it's the PC brigade wanting to get offended on others behalves.. because a manhole cover is no longer. It's a non gender specific personal maintenance access aperture.

My Dad used to work for the council and they were told not to call it a manhole cover but a sub terranian access route.

 

[jonbeeza]

My Dad used to work for the council and they were told not to call it a manhole cover but a sub terranian access route.

I wonder if they were allowed to be called manual workers?

 

[POAH]

Which puts your breeding strategy into question.

it wasn't a strategy

 

[273K]

Originally the suffix -man was gender neutral meaning "person", which evolved into the exclusively male "man", an example of the patriarchy that has prevailed over centuries.

In Old English, wīfmann meant "female human", whereas wēr meant "male human". Mann or monn had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"; however, subsequent to the Norman Conquest, man began to be used more in reference to "male human", and by the late 13th century had begun to eclipse usage of the older term wēr. [wikipedia]

I wonder if they were allowed to be called manual workers?

Just in case you're not joking, the man in manual refers to the hands (la mano/main in Spanish/French)

 

[MartynK]

Originally the suffix -man was gender neutral meaning "person", which evolved into the exclusively male "man", an example of the patriarchy that has prevailed over centuries.

In Old English, wīfmann meant "female human", whereas wēr meant "male human". Mann or monn had a gender-neutral meaning of "human", corresponding to Modern English "person" or "someone"; however, subsequent to the Norman Conquest, man began to be used more in reference to "male human", and by the late 13th century had begun to eclipse usage of the older term wēr. [wikipedia]

Agreed, but wergild meant 'man payment' in old Germanic law, which was also used in Anglo Saxon England, in reference to compensation payable for committing an offence against either a man or a woman. The amount was often the same, and sometimes greater, if the injured party was a woman and of the same status.

 

[Nod]

Just in case you're not joking, the man in manual refers to the hands (la mano/main in Spanish/French)

I think you probably mean that it refers to the hands "manus" in Latin (from where the Spanish and French took it!)