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When has 'he' ever been used in a genderless context?
by lanternfish 6y ago
When has 'he' ever been used in a genderless context?
- Johnny555 6y agoApparently it started in the 18th century, so there's a lot of inertia to overcome to get people to change. But she says it was from the 18th century onwards that people started using male pronouns when describing someone of a non-specific gender in writing and this marks the time when opinions on what pronouns should be used started to change. "You might have a sentence like 'if a student comes to see the teacher, he must bring his homework', where he is supposed to refer generically to males and females," explains Dr Emma Moore. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49754930 https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49754930
- damau 6y agoI have been learning Italian. Don’t slam me for this if it’s wrong I am a beginner. But there are a number of contexts in Italian to which lei (she) is used. One for polite and respectful use (such as a general in the army, regardless of gender) or if the person’s gender is unknown. Just thought I’d throw that out there.
- manuelmoreale 6y agoVery formal/polite way to refer to people yes. But in Italian we also have “voi” and its use can be traced back centuries before “lei” started to be used.
- pengaru 6y agoWelcome to the English language. It's technically correct to use He when the gender is unknown. Provided by a sibling dead comment, see 2nd definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/he https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/he
- Doctor_Fegg 6y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_a_Pilgrim https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_a_Pilgrim is the first example that springs to mind.