premise: A familiar  reasoning that in terms of job duties the sex or gender of the person who passes peanuts on an airplane is unimportant, editors of the Handbook of Nonsexist Language propose flight attendant rather than steward/stewardess and oppose gratuitous regendering of job titles ( female flight attendant ).  (A court case notes a male purser and a female stewardess with identical job descriptions, but different salary scales.)
hypothesis: A steward/stewardess is the preferred term for someone who passes peanuts on an airplane.