[annalex]

Using the plural gets round having to use clumsy expressions like "him or her" or "he or she" until you discover the gender of a person, or having to continually use titles.

"He" or "man" in English serves as both indicator of male gender and a generic reference to a human being of unknown gender. "He or she" is not only clumsy, it is illiterate. Use "he".

[Vanders9]

"He" or "man" in English serves as both indicator of male gender and a generic reference to a human being of unknown gender.

Not so. It CAN serve as a generic reference to a Human being of unknown gender - but then so can "She", dependent on the context, which is itself based upon observed (and increasingly obsolete) stereotypes. Would you call a nurse "he" if you didnt know the gender? Or a midwife?