The elderly are now called senior citizens. The handicapped are described as physically challenged. New words show an awareness in today’s society that differences are good and that everyone deserves respect. Even the names of certain jobs have changed so that workers can be proud of what they do. The trashman is now called a sanitation worker, a doorman is an attendant, and a janitor is a custodian.
Our important influence on our language in the past decade has been the changing role of women in modern society. There was a time when an unmarried woman was called a spinster. But that was before women went into space in rockets, worked underground in mines, and were managers of corporations. As women entered more and more areas that were once thought of as men’s jobs, it became necessary to change the job titles. For example, a mailman is now a mail carries, a watchman is a guard, a lineman is a line repairer. And the Man of the Year? Well, she’s the Newsmakers of the Year.
Women have fought long and hard to be treated equally in language as well as in society because they know that language can cause changes in attitudes. If every person isn’t referred to as he, people will begin to realize that men aren’t the only ones who are important or who have made great achievements. Most words that indicate only one gender have been replaced with words that refer to both males and females, Thus a poetess is called a poet, a waitress is a server, and mankind has become humankind.