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Why should it be fine? It introduces ambiguity into an already complicated language. If he or she isn't appropriate, invent a new pronoun instead of overloadin
by dingaling 8y ago
Why should it be fine? It introduces ambiguity into an already complicated language.
If he or she isn't appropriate, invent a new pronoun instead of overloading an existing word. Just like you'd do in a programming language instead of overloading 'if' to mean different things in different contexts.
- Volundr 8y agoDoes it? In the event of an unknown gender, "He is going to the store." implies (possibly falsely) that the target is male. At best, it leaves that ambiguous. On the other hand "They are going to the store" leaves the number of people going to the store ambiguous, but does not imply any false information. It seems to me at worst "they" is equally non-specific. Sure a clear, singular non-gendered pronoun would be better, but in the absence of such a thing existing, "they" actually seems better than "he" in this context. Edit: I'd also point out, singular "they" has existed since at least the 14th century, so it's not like anyone is attempting to modify the language by encouraging it's usage.