Dear Rett, Robert, Gunnnar, Alan et al,

I believe the term "men" rather than "humans" in this context sounds
better to most of your ears simply because of common usage, and
perhaps because you are all men!

Alan makes a very good point that we can all help move the English
language along to less-sexist language by using non-gender specific
language wherever feasible, and in a case like this use of the word
"humans" or "humankind" or similar certainly doesn't distort the
original intent of the Pali, which I agree should at all times be
maintained as far as possible by a translator.

With metta,
John

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, rett <rett@...> wrote:
> >"Teacher of gods and men" sounds better to my ear
> >than "teacher of gods and humans".
>
>
> Agree. "Gods and men" is a standard pair phrase in English, bringing
to mind ancient Greek mythology and the like. 'Humans' sounds like it
belongs in a show on the nature channel about primates. The two words
just don't fit together, since they come from such different stylistic
contexts. But if we wanted to insist on avoiding the word 'men',
perhaps 'human beings' would work a bit better than just plain 'humans'.
>
> /Rett