Man overboard?  Name of God the Father goes overboard? Oh Lord, what’s next!
The Church of Sweden now encourages its clergy to use the gender-neutral term “God” . And they suggest that clergy stop referring to the deity as “he” or “the Lord”.
The decision was made on Thursday, wrapping up an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body. The decision will take effect on May 20 during Pentecost.
It is the latest move by the national Evangelical Lutheran church to modernise its 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted.
Opps  — which of the following might you have mistakenly used this past year? Which other ones do you want to add to the list?
                      Gender-neutral terms —
Garbage man … how about garbage truck driver?
Man hole …Â person cover hole?Â
Forefathers – ancestors, forebears  ….  how about our ‘foremothers’ begot …?
Gentleman’s agreement – unwritten agreement, agreement based on trust …. three women splitting a lunch bill ? Â
Girls (for adults) – women
Housewife – shopper, consumer, homemaker (depends on context) …  shall we use, he is such a good house-husband?
Manpower – human resources, labour force, staff, personnel, workers, workforce
Man or mankind – humanity, humankind, human race, people
Man-made – artificial, manufactured, synthetic
Man in the street, common man – average/ordinary/typical citizen/person
Right-hand man – chief assistant
Sportsmanship – fairmess, good humour, sense of fair play
Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Guide to Inclusive Language
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Fireman, policeman, mailman, there are lots that when paired with picutres of only men influence how little boys and girls think. I’m ok with keeping the words if we did more to show pictures of both genders engaging in these occupations