Crispin Thurlow, a sociolinguist and associate professor of language and communication at the University of Washington-Bothell, said the project was admirable.

He said that as language evolves, such efforts are more than symbolic.

"Changing words can change what we think about the world around us," he said. "These tiny moments accrue and become big movements."

As in past bills on the issue that have tackled sections of the state code, some revisions were as simple as adding "or her" after "his." Others required a little more scrutiny. Phrases like "man's past" changes to "humankind's past" and a "prudent man or woman" is simply a "prudent person." Kyle Thiessen, the state's code reviser who has been working on the project along with two attorneys since 2008, said that the work was not without obstacles.

Words like "manhole" and "manlock" aren't so easily replaced. Substitutes have been suggested — "utility hole" and "air lock serving as a decompression chamber for workers." But Thiessen said those references will be left alone to avoid confusion.

在华盛顿州，诸如“牛奶房工人”、“大学新生”甚至“书法”这类英文含有“man”有男性倾向的词很快都会成为过去。

在过去六年里，州政府官员一直忙于一项繁重的任务，即更换华盛顿州众多法律里的语言，包括成千上万的单词和短语。这些法律条文很多都是一个多世纪之前撰写的，当时根本没有考虑到女性在警局或渔业工作的可能性。

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