Here's a letter to the editor

[conuly]

claiming that there is nothing sexist with the phrase "manned" tables (spacecraft, vehicles, etc) because in this case "manned" comes from Latin manus, so there.

First of all, that etymology is false. False, false, false. Man (v) comes from man (n) in exactly the path we all imagine. And I know, because unlike this person, I actually bothered to look it up.

Secondly, it doesn't freaking matter. "Manning" a table certainly sounds like it might be sexist, we have an easy substitute in the words "staffing" or "working", and that's good enough reason to switch.

I'm strongly tempted to write my own letter to the editor rebutting this letter to the editor, which of course itself is a rebuttal.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

if you do, point readers to etymonline so they can check your work and also prevent their own future embarrassment at getting things like this wrong 😈

[conuly]

I would if I were inclined to be nice. Since I'm not, I'll just say they could've looked this one up in literally any dictionary.

[alexseanchai]

valid