Women’s minister wants men purged from national anthem (Austria)

Times of London ^ | September 28, 2005 | Roger Boyes

[goldstategop]

Political Correctness... Canada also has sexist words in its national anthem. Perhaps the Liberals there will bring back Robert Stanley Weir's original version to placate the feminazis.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

I was going to make an obscenely sexist pun out of "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" but didn't want to get banned.

(And yes, that IS the Austrian national anthem, just a slightly different version from that used by Germany.)

[mrs. a]

Oh, good grief.

As a woman, I resent the implication that I'm too stupid to understand that "mankind" or "brotherhood" means all people.

Someone give this "person" something useful to do - she's got too much time if she can be worrying about inconsequential stuff.

Now I'm off to work with my "fellow men."

[Old Grumpy]

Oh, give me a freaking break!

[Semper Vigilantis]

How exactly does one say "Non-gender-specific-human-type-life-form" in Austrian?

[RWR8189]

 "Non-gender-specific-human-type-life-form"

No no.  I believe the word is humyn.

[goldstategop]

You decide if its sexist:

Land of mountains, land on the river,
Land of fields, land of cathedrals,
Land of hammers, rich in outlook.
You are the native home of great sons,
A people uniquely gifted for the beautiful,
Much applauded Austria.

Fiercely embattled, ferociously contested,
You lie at the center of the globe,
Like a strong heart.
Since the days of your early ancestors

You have borne the burden of a sublime calling,
Much-tried Austria.

Courageously we stride
Into the new times, free and devout,
Industrious and of firm heart.
In unison choruses of brotherhood
We pledge our allegiance to thee,
Fatherland,
Much-loved Austria.

I can see where women might feel left out... but then no one ever sings all the verses of an anthem anyway.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[zlala]

As a woman, I resent the implication that I'm too stupid to understand that "mankind" or "brotherhood" means all people.

Amen and thank you for posting what I was thinking also.

[cloud8]

...and crown thy good with brotherhood,
from sea to shining sea.

Sigh. Thy days are numbered.

[goldstategop]

The usual understanding of masculine pronouns and references in most languages include women as well as men. No one's ever complained its left women feeling like second-class citizens.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[zlala]

You are the native home of great sons

Are the women implying this needs to be taken out because there are no great sons left? (Of course w/women like these, it's totally possible).

[goldstategop]

Replace it with hirhood. There that should make it PC even if it does violence to the meter.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[goldstategop]

No because it should also include great daughters. Hence the push for a non-sexist approach to linguistics.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[AntiGuv]

Nichtgeslechtspezifischmenschlichlebensform.

[WildHorseCrash]

"Land of hammers"??? WTF?

[starfish923]

Someday, the ACLU of Austria and athiests will DEMAND that "cathedrals" be expunged from the anthem since it .... oh never, mind, you get the point.

[Semper Vigilantis]

LOL Thanks. Any chance I can get a pronunciation key with that?

[AntiGuv]

It's pronounced very slowly. ;^)

[thulldud]

Are the women implying this needs to be taken out because there are no great sons left? (Of course w/women like these, it's totally possible).

Or are they forgetting who BEARS those great sons? (Again, considering what women these are, it's totally possible.)