time to get a life

For your reading amusement, I've cut and pasted the most bizarre and obnoxious email conversation I think I've ever had with a stranger. It's based on an eVent story that appeared Aug. 31 (will be posted at www.eventpub.com for the next week - or two if they get lazy about updating). I won't argue that I'm right, just that this man needs to find some more relevant activities to occupy his time. I believe (or at least hope) it's all over now, since my "fuck you" attitude is shutting the dialogue down. Only one question remains: Am I on Candid Camera???


From: Rudy

tell Lori-Anne Charlton that Judith Forst is NOT an alumnus of UBC. She's an alumna - in other words, a FEMALE grad. Having sung with her at the Vancouver Opera in the sixties, I can assure you that this is the case.
Rudy

My response:

Sorry, but . . . I didn't call Judith Forst an alumnus, I called her an almuni, which is acceptable for both sexes. Quote: "Coeducational institutions usually use alumni for graduates of both sexes." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Lori-Anne

Rudy replies:

Gently now, Lori-Anne... you didn't call her an almuni, 'cause there ain't no such thing. If you meant alumni (as per your quote of the American Heritage Dictionary), you would still be wrong because that dictionary (for coeducational institutions) refers to grads of both sexes as alumni in the plural. Meaning Judy is an alumna but (in their new usage) one of the many alumni. Since you write of her as an individual, you can't use the plural. I think you may have an issue with your copy editor, because both the headline, and your reference in the text body at the start of line 5, very clearly say alumnus. No matter which way you want to explain it, an alumnus is male graduate of a school. I did, and enjoyed, 4 years of Latin study, and both the American College Dictionary and the Concise English Dictionary agree with me. But I really don't want to quarrel with you.
Rudy

I say:

Ok, my fingers were too fast on that (almuni was not what I meant) but so was my response - after firing off that email I checked the paper and saw that what I had written innitially was not what was printed. Appologies for the confusion.
Lori-Anne

So he ends with this:

Fair enough, Lori-Anne, but it seems to me you still don't acknowledge that the use of "alumni" for one "alumna" is unacceptable. That is, unquestionably, a result of, both, the total neglect of education in the humanities, including Latin, in our society, and the "fuck you" attitude of your generation. My own treasured arrogance, on the other hand, stems from 50 years of writing for international publications. Obviously, you couldn't have known this. And I don't blame you.
Rudy