Advocacy-Matters-Fall-2022

ADVOCACY
The Wrong Stuff Revisited –
Pronouns and Non-Discriminatory Language
Tamara Ramsey, Dale & Lessmann LLP
In the Summer 2002 Issue of The Advocates’ Journal, the Honourable Marvin Catzman provided his “Losing
Tip No. 12: Fling their own words back at them”, which was part of an entertaining and insightful
series of losings tips that started with his piece: “The Wrong Stuff: How to Lose in the Court of Appeal.” I am
revisiting “The Wrong Stuff” to see what holds true and share some of the new ways you can lose in the
electronic era.
With reference to an unnamed judge in a hypothetical scenario about how judges’ words are recorded,
Justice Catzman used the pronoun “she” and in his notes stated: “I wrestled with this pronoun. As you
recall, I use “she” and “her” when referring to nice people, and “he” and “him” when referring to the other
kind. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out whether adjournments and washroom breaks fall on the
nice or the not-nice side of the line. So I flipped a coin, and it came down “her.” If anyone takes offence,
please read it as if it said “him” instead.”
Twenty years later, we still struggle with pronouns
in legal writing (and in society more broadly).
This struggle is not limited to an unidentified judge
in a hypothetical scenario. Pronouns confound the
grammar nerds among us who hate using “his or
her” but struggle with using the plural “their” 1 in
place of the singular. “They went to the washroom”
may be jarring, but it is no more jarring than “He
or she went to the washroom.” 2 While we can use
“she” for nice things and “he” for not-nice things like
Justice Catzman satirically suggested, we all need to
use the washroom at some point.
Historically, the masculine pronoun was used in
the English language to signify the non-specific “he
or she”. While we generally recognize that it is no
longer acceptable to use the masculine pronoun
universally, we still struggle with writing acceptable
alternatives. Together with using non-discriminatory
language, 3 one important tool to address this
struggle is to not make gender visible when it is not
relevant for communication. 4
Below are some helpful tips on how to tweak
your language to make gender invisible when it is
irrelevant:
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