3 ms·

He/she means this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17517155 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17517155 Today's post is way more in-depth. Good foll

• peterwwillis 8y ago
  Obligatory pedantic HN grammar comment: on the outside chance that the gp's gender is not binary, the word 'they' is a good stand-in gender neutral pronoun to 'he/she'. You also have at least 14 alternatives to choose from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Summary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Summary) and two more if you're at a Renaissance faire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Historical_and_dialectal_gender-neutral_pronouns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Historica...). For the grammar snobs, this convention has existed since the 16th century.
  • spraak 8y ago
    I wouldn't say it's obligatory, especially since the poster already was aware of not assuming gender by using "he/she" (though I know some people identify as neither of those). I do prefer singular they; it's very natural and yes, it's been around in English for a long time.
    • tryonqc 8y ago
      I thought I did a good thing :( The use of their / they refering a single person doesn't come naturally to me as english is my 2nd language and we're taught its plural. (it can indeed be used as "third person plural singular" according to oxford dict.) Since its the "least bad" (to my ears) of the gender-neutral pronouns on the wiki page I'll try to use the "they/their" instead.