0
SweetFreedom Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Get over the clunking infelicity of the language, it raises our consciousness to the sensitivities of half the human race?

Does "get over the clunking infelicity of the language, it raises our consciousness to the sensitivities of half the human race" mean " overcome the stubborn unpleasantness of the language, it raises our consciousness to the level of the sensitivities of half the human race"?

Context:

notoriously are the front line of such consciousness-raising. He or
she must ask himself or herself whether his or her sense of style
could ever allow himself or herself to write like this. But if we can
just get over the clunking infelicity of the language, it raises our
consciousness to the sensitivities of half the human race. Man,
mankind, the Rights of Man, all men are created equal, one man
one vote - English too often seems to exclude woman. * When I was
young, it never occurred to me that women might feel slighted by a
phrase like 'the future of man'. During the intervening decades, we
have all had our consciousness raised. Even those who still use
'man' instead of 'human' do so with an air of self-conscious
apology - or truculence, taking a stand for traditional language,
even deliberately to rile feminists. All participants in the Zeitgeist
  

Top answer

Here is a paraphrase: If we ignore the awkward and graceless phrasing (exemplified by the last sentence), it makes us aware of why women object to the biases inherent in our language.

  • Here is a paraphrase: If we ignore the awkward and graceless phrasing (exemplified by the last sentence), it makes us aware of why women object to the biases inherent in our language.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
Here is a paraphrase:

If we ignore the awkward and graceless phrasing (exemplified by the last sentence), it makes us aware of why women object to the biases inherent in our language.

Related Questions