That's One Small Step For...?

Did you ever notice that there are a lot of words ending in “man” or “men" out there? In this post, I discuss why these terms can be problematic and, more importantly, I offer an easy tip to a more inclusive way of communicating.

There are many colloquial, informal job titles that have been floating around the English language for quite some time that include "man" like fireman, policeman, mailman, congressman, etc. This list goes on and on so I won't belabor the point here. In truth, these jobs were once held entirely by men. However, the march towards diversity, equality and inclusion in our labor force continues to move forward and our official job titles do too. Indeed, we now have fire fighters, police officers, mail carriers and representatives.

There is also an entirely different category of words that incorporate the word man in a more universal way à la Neil Armstrong's, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Back in 1969, the eyes of the world were glued to their televisions as Armstrong hopped off the lunar module and onto the surface of the moon. His statement was meant to convey the enormity of human achievement. And, it did. And, to anyone who can open-mindedly take into consideration the era in which he uttered those famous words, it still does.

The funny thing about a language, though, is that it's not static. It continuously evolves overtime.

Today, "man" is not considered a "neutral" term. Today, using the word "man" in a generic way ignores the equal and valid experiences of women and nonbinary people as fellow members of the human race. And, it can exclude over 50% of the population in public life. For instance, I would be less inclined to apply to be a fireman than a fire fighter...being that I am not a man. :-)

Language matters.

So, speaking as someone who loves the simple symmetry and rhythm of Armstrong's original quote as I do, I would still recommend tweaking it for the 21st-century to be, "That's one small step for a human, one giant leap for humankind."

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Pro-Tip: When in doubt, lose the "man". Substitute truly gender neutral terms like individual, person, people, human and humankind.

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Wondering how to handle pronouns? Language Matters has got you covered here.