• jackpot@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    i think they mean ‘man’ as in ‘mankind’. also any ideas why would they carve it into bone and not bark or something more flat?

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Likely durability. A bone and a stick can both be thrown into a bag and carried with you, but a bone is much more durable than a stick. It’ll be less likely to break or wear down as it rubs against everything else in your bag.

    • Rowan@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      Likely durability and portability. Think of it as something they use month over month and just mark the day with something like a string band. Bone would be light enough to keep with you, strong enough to not break, and common enough to be available for household use.

    • endhits@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      That’s exactly what is meant, but they have to find something to complain about

    • survivalmachine@beehaw.org
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      8 months ago

      Sure, you can say “man” means “mankind”, but when you use gendered language like that, most people picture a couple of caveMEN sitting around a fire carving bones rather than caveHUMANS (edited – I think it would benefit us to picture all genders around this hypothetical fire). Even though we try to use gendered language in a neutral way, listeners will often perceive the language in a gendered way.

      • jackpot@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        no i mean, by the people ‘who consider it’. i think the speaksr didnt understand that theyre saying it’s mankind others are talkint abkut

        • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Oh but the word mankind in itself overlooks women. We’re all supposed to be saying humankind now.

          • jackpot@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            etymologically speaking im not even sure if thats right. i heard somethibg like this and they either said woman doesnt derive from man or that man used to mean woman and man but woman became its own thing, cant recall

            • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              “man” in the contexts not directly related to being a male, means human. “Man” used to have a prefix vaguely pronounced “were” and “woman” used to be “wifman”. Female werewolf would be a “wifwolf” then. So anyways, “Man” never changed it’s meaning, it really just gained an additional one, and yet again, whiners need to read a book.