[thezoid]

It might be good to generalize that a bit.

Fear, spouses, family commitments.

[somone]

Now you're going down this road: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neut...

[thezoid]

I actively practice using gender neutral nouns whenever I write stuff. Sometimes I'll slip up, but I'm pretty confident this isn't the case with the HN crowd.

Using they, spouse or partner is pretty safe and only the only people that are likely to get offended are more than likely already a part of an entitled group anyway.

[iends]

Should probably save this pedantry for elsewhere.