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Grammar Moses: When your valentine is a heart-healthy cereal

My wife walked into my ersatz office Tuesday morning while I was between meetings and proffered her spoon.

Is this one I send shuddering down the garbage disposal, I thought?

And then I saw it: a lone, misshapen Cheerio.

“It was the last one in the bowl,” she said. “Look.”

Pareidolia strikes again!

I thought sharing with you a photo of the breakfast anomaly would be a perfect way to wish you all Happy Valentine's Day today without sounding creepy.

But on Wednesday morning, my wife shared with me a Cheerios ad on the TV that announced General Mills had begun adding heart-shaped Cheerios to its boxes to spice things up.

So, it was not an example of pareidolia at all.

But, hey, it's the thought that counts.

Bad actors?

I've twice received email critical of our use of “actor” in our daily roundup of birthdays of famous people as a gender-neutral word describing all people who act.

I normally would name-drop here, but because of the serious tone of the letter I'll withhold the writer's identity.

“I am horribly confused,” it started out. “To the best of my knowledge the dictionary reports the words ‘actor' and ‘actress,' which characterizes the sex of an individual engaged in the occupation of acting. I noted that your column of birthdays today does not recognize the female sex.

“I understand your reluctance to call a biological female, who identifies as a male, an ‘actress,' but wouldn't it be more appropriate to describe all people engaged in acting as ‘it'? This would alleviate the possibility of insulting those biologic males that identify as female.

“Or, heaven forbid, you should insult a biologic female that identifies as a female.

“I think I understand why many people view the media as providing false and misleading information.”

I'm not sure this is something that would trigger a distrust of the news media with too many people.

I've written plenty before on the topic of gender-neutral words and their necessity in today's world. We're no longer looking at either this or that but a spectrum of gender identities. I would find nothing more insulting than to refer to someone as “it.” That's just dehumanizing.

I thought I would toss this hot potato to Neil Holdway, our assistant managing editor for the copy desk.

“The birthday list is supplied each day by The Associated Press, which has adopted a policy, as have we, of gender-neutral language where possible, reflecting the changing preferences in society and therefore language,” Holdway began.

Here, in part, is what the AP policy says about it:

“In general, use terms that can apply to any gender. Such language aims to treat people equally and is inclusive of people whose gender identity is not strictly male or female. Balance these aims with common sense, respect for the language, and an understanding that gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language is evolving and in some cases is challenging to achieve. ... A true gender-neutral noun often presents itself easily: chair or chairperson, firefighter, workforce. In other cases, a noun may technically not be gender-neutral but instead be a masculine noun that assumes the generic case under English language convention: actor, host.”

We use “actor” for men and women, though we acknowledge that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still gives a trophy to the “best actress” in leading and supporting roles.

The people who bring you the Oscars are generally a little slow on the uptake in terms of social consciousness, so it will be interesting to see whether and how in the future they handle transgender “actors” (read: people who act) and people who do not identify as either male or female.

When there is no reason to bring gender into it, we don't.

“Actor,” in this case, is more inclusive, not less.

See you in two weeks

I'll be up to my eyeballs in local candidate endorsement interviews next week and beyond, so you'll have to wait two weeks for your next dose of pith.

Write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.

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