5 ms·

It takes really little effort to use "they" instead of "he" to include all people.

by stevenpetryk 7y ago

pinkfoot 7y ago
Sad.
fuzz4lyfe 7y ago
They the boss.
- moate 7y ago
  *They's the boss. Fixt for ya.
syntaxing 7y ago
Serious question, I was taught in High School that he is grammatically correct as a gender neutral pronoun where the gender is unknown[0]. Is this not the case anymore? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Generic_he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Generic_h...
- lucb1e 7y ago
  I've heard that too (though not as part of any official education), but I'm not sure I really like it. As far as I know, men have always had the upper hand in the part of history that shaped most of our current society. When prompted about it, it's easy to go "oh no, I didn't mean it has to be a man, I meant it generally", while the word still obviously refers to a male. It almost certainly reinforces an expectation of male leadership. I sometimes use the 'wrong' gender on purpose ("she" when talking about male-dominated professions and vice versa), just to make the reader realize that's an option, hopefully getting used to the idea and not frowning when they hear of an actual case where an uncommonly gendered person is (studying for / a candidate for) $profession/$role.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  The high school idiom is not inclusive. I agree that 3PP is rarely felicitous to those who speak English. In this case it contributes to confusion: "they" refers most naturally to the entire organization. The best alternative depends on the context. In this case one could have written, "That person is the boss."
devjungle 7y ago
It also take just as little effort to ignore this usage. I understand why you would say that, but what someone writes is their own - they might feel differently. Besides, "he" (or now, just as appropriately "she") is very common when referring to an unknown in English. Anyone reading should understand that there is usually no intent to exclude and that it's merely a side effect of the language.
anoncake 7y ago
Plural vs. singular seems more important than gender here.
gnaritas 7y ago
Oh fuck off with that shit already.

It takes really little effort to use "they" instead of "he" to include all people.

pinkfoot 7y ago

Sad.

fuzz4lyfe 7y ago

They the boss.

moate 7y ago
*They's the boss. Fixt for ya.

syntaxing 7y ago

Serious question, I was taught in High School that he is grammatically correct as a gender neutral pronoun where the gender is unknown[0]. Is this not the case anymore? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Generic_he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Generic_h...

lucb1e 7y ago
I've heard that too (though not as part of any official education), but I'm not sure I really like it. As far as I know, men have always had the upper hand in the part of history that shaped most of our current society. When prompted about it, it's easy to go "oh no, I didn't mean it has to be a man, I meant it generally", while the word still obviously refers to a male. It almost certainly reinforces an expectation of male leadership. I sometimes use the 'wrong' gender on purpose ("she" when talking about male-dominated professions and vice versa), just to make the reader realize that's an option, hopefully getting used to the idea and not frowning when they hear of an actual case where an uncommonly gendered person is (studying for / a candidate for) $profession/$role.
jessaustin 7y ago
The high school idiom is not inclusive. I agree that 3PP is rarely felicitous to those who speak English. In this case it contributes to confusion: "they" refers most naturally to the entire organization. The best alternative depends on the context. In this case one could have written, "That person is the boss."

devjungle 7y ago

It also take just as little effort to ignore this usage. I understand why you would say that, but what someone writes is their own - they might feel differently. Besides, "he" (or now, just as appropriately "she") is very common when referring to an unknown in English. Anyone reading should understand that there is usually no intent to exclude and that it's merely a side effect of the language.

anoncake 7y ago

Plural vs. singular seems more important than gender here.

gnaritas 7y ago

Oh fuck off with that shit already.