linguistic imprecisions...

recently a friend was complaining about orthodox shuls (in this case, self-consciously "progressive" ones) in which ppl make annoucnements like "no one should leave the room b/c we need to keep a minyan" or "everyone should come on time so we can get a minyan for barchu." at the time i sort os smiled and nodded, thinkig i mostly try not to get annoyed by similar stupidity anymore (mostly, perhaps, because i haven't encountered it in a community where i have even a hava-amina of not feeling alienated in a while...), but the following announcement caught my eye for its bizzaritude:

All synagogues, as well as camps, yeshivot, Kollelim, and other groups, are invited to sign up for one or more one-hour slots any time day or night during the first eight of the upcoming Nine Days, during which they will guarantee at least a minyan of ten individuals learning Torah in this time of crisis for Israel and her people. The groups are free to learn whatever topics they like, and there will be audio, video and text resources available on the OU web site for those interested, as well as live web-cast shiurim during the day for those who wish to participate.

what does that mean? one might think that there's no reason to use the awkward gender-neutral language of "individuals" unless you mean it. but this is the OU afterall, and a "miyan" means men*. does the word "individuals" just come include men and boys over 13?
further confusing things is that a number of slots are filled by women's insititutions. notably dirsha, which, granted, may be intentionally insensitive to such issues, but also some more frum-sounding place...
silly.

*tee hee, alliteration...