Erik, neat cheat. For reference, my own thoughts on the terms, and a general FAQ about gender free terms: http://contradances.tumblr.com/post/113203981035/genderfree-contra-dance-te… I have not updated it with gems / rubies. I like jets / rubies, but I think gems / rubies is better: 1. I disagree that the "em" sound is harder to hear than the "et" in jet. Good mic skills / having a foam pad on a mic will dull the sharp "ts" in "gents", and thus, "jets". Because a loud "ts" on the mic is harsh. Therefore, this argument against "gems" is not an issue. 2. A lot of people don't know "jet" is a gemstone, and so they think airplane. I've had a lot of gender free dancers complain about this. Given that the terms need to serve the LGBTQ community, and not merely us as callers, I take this complaint seriously. Thus, "gem" is a better choice. 3. Yes, a ruby is a gem. So what? They're both gems. 4. There's a gender connotation to thinking jet = airplane, since it's either phallic, or people think the NY/NJ football team, or the West Side Story fictional gang. Again, the terms are here to serve the dancers, not merely us. 5. Gem has all the same advantages as jet. I thus think gem / ruby is a superior pair than jet / ruby. Ron Blechner On May 29, 2015 11:32 AM, "Erik Hoffman via Callers" <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote: We are still using larks and ravens at the Berkeley dance. And, though I don't seem to have too much trouble using different words for different dances -- so far I've used men/women, ladies/gents, bands/bares, trees/squirrels, and larks/ravens without changing my mess of dance notes -- I understand that others can't switch so easily. On this note, at the Berkeley dance a caller recently did the following: 1) asked if anyone had some post-its. When found some 2) wrote "lark" and "raven" on the sticky end 3) cut out these little cheat-sheets 4) covered the words "gents" and "ladies" with the post-it cheats 5) move cheats to next card as needed Thereby changing their cards to the current words on the fly. I was impressed. ~erik hoffman oakland, ca On 5/28/2015 8:01 PM, Kalia Kliban via Callers wrote: On Thu, May 28, 2015, Alan Winston via Callers wrote: On 5/28/15 12:30 PM, Ron Blechner via Callers wrote: For those interested in gender free contra dance terms: 1. Do you like or dislike jets / rubies ? Like. (I'm responding on personal preference alone; I'm aware of some objections to this, which I don't personally share.) 2. How would gems / rubies compare? Less good, because the soft "ms" would make the call less clear. Also, rubies _are_ gems, so this is confusing. Me too. I haven't yet tried calling with the jets and rubies terminology, though I've used bands/bares and larks/ravens. I can't say I'm eager to add yet another set of translated cards to my files. Kalia Kliban _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net