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points by StilesCrisis 1 day ago | 0 comments

"They" has been a gender-neutral singular or plural pronoun for hundreds of years.

Maybe, but default masculine was way more common. That was still taught as proper usage in the 80s here in the US. He/she was its most common replacement until fairly recently.

[–] adamsmark 23 hours ago

"They" is so much easier.

I always felt like saying if "he or she" took too much time and was unnecessary.

"They" will replace Him and Her! It might even be you! (If I ever refer to you in 3rd person)

[–] spauldo 15 hours ago

I agree that it's easier. Eventually "they" will probably replace "him/her." Language drift takes time, though, which was my original point.

[–] pvab3 22 hours ago

A lot of people don't accept it as such, including myself

[–] varjag 22 hours ago

Its use in this function predates you and the culture wars you may be involved into.

[–] pvab3 16 hours ago

It has nothing to do with culture wars, I'm just a stickler for grammatical precision and not overloading the meanings of words.

[–] coldpie 15 hours ago

No, I'm afraid you really are stuck in a culture war. As the above poster said, "they" truly has been a gender-neutral singular or plural pronoun for hundreds of years.

For example, someone two blocks down the street is doing something weird. "What are they doing?" is a perfectly grammatically normal reaction to seeing this.

[–] 4798642799 17 hours ago

Why are you bringing "wars" into this?

[–] inglor_cz 17 hours ago

"You might be not interested in the war, but the war is interested in you."