4 ms·

I've never understood the animosity towards overloading `they` as a neuter singular pronoun. It doesn't seem to introduce any sort of ambiguity in the language

by knome 16y ago

I've never understood the animosity towards overloading `they` as a neuter singular pronoun. It doesn't seem to introduce any sort of ambiguity in the language and replaces a whole slurry of fumbling and hackish attempts with a single widely understood syllable. It's damned convenient. Of course, I also hold a disdain for "proper quoting".

sprout 16y ago
Someone should make a hacker's manual of style.
losvedir 16y ago
> Of course, I also hold a disdain for "proper quoting". What do you mean here? When talking about "proper quoting", I much prefer what I just did to what you're supposed to do (in American English) for "proper quoting." I feel like when you quote things they become a unit together with the quotes, and the punctuation should then treat the whole composition as a single object. You wouldn't stick punctuation in the middle of the word at the end of a claus,e so why would you do that with quote?s
tsally 16y ago
Do you hold disdain for properly citing references in technical journals? The rational for proper quoting is the same.
javert 16y ago
The problem is, when a person uses 'they' as a single pronoun, he seems uneducated.
- socksy 16y ago
  That's interesting, I don't think it makes one seem anymore uneducated than any other piece of correctly used grammar (correct use of the word "one", "none of them is" etc). I wouldn't regard my self as uneducated, having had the privelege to go to a good (if not public/private) school. By any chance is this one of those quirks of American grammar usage that I've not come across before. The only times where I've seen disapproval of the use of 'they' in that fashion was on the Internet... By any chance is this another Ame
  - pak 16y ago
    "They is so smart!" --> the apparent subject-verb disagreement is just too unfamiliar to most ears.
    - socksy 16y ago
      You are still supposed to use plural declensions despite talking about a single person. For instance: "if such a person existed, they were very quiet about their existence". Note that it's not "they was", which is grammatically incorrect.
    - elblanco 16y ago
      That's because it should read, "they are so smart".
ynniv 16y ago
As opposed to "proper quoting?" I doubt most people understand the reference anymore.

by knome 16y ago

sprout 16y ago

Someone should make a hacker's manual of style.

losvedir 16y ago

> Of course, I also hold a disdain for "proper quoting". What do you mean here? When talking about "proper quoting", I much prefer what I just did to what you're supposed to do (in American English) for "proper quoting." I feel like when you quote things they become a unit together with the quotes, and the punctuation should then treat the whole composition as a single object. You wouldn't stick punctuation in the middle of the word at the end of a claus,e so why would you do that with quote?s

tsally 16y ago

Do you hold disdain for properly citing references in technical journals? The rational for proper quoting is the same.

javert 16y ago

The problem is, when a person uses 'they' as a single pronoun, he seems uneducated.

socksy 16y ago
That's interesting, I don't think it makes one seem anymore uneducated than any other piece of correctly used grammar (correct use of the word "one", "none of them is" etc). I wouldn't regard my self as uneducated, having had the privelege to go to a good (if not public/private) school. By any chance is this one of those quirks of American grammar usage that I've not come across before. The only times where I've seen disapproval of the use of 'they' in that fashion was on the Internet... By any chance is this another Ame
- pak 16y ago
  "They is so smart!" --> the apparent subject-verb disagreement is just too unfamiliar to most ears.
  - socksy 16y ago
    You are still supposed to use plural declensions despite talking about a single person. For instance: "if such a person existed, they were very quiet about their existence". Note that it's not "they was", which is grammatically incorrect.
  - elblanco 16y ago
    That's because it should read, "they are so smart".

ynniv 16y ago

As opposed to "proper quoting?" I doubt most people understand the reference anymore.