4 ms·
I get it, but I thought it's merited in cases where the gender of the person referred to cannot be determined - usually because the reference points to an abstr
by killtimeatwork 5y ago
I get it, but I thought it's merited in cases where the gender of the person referred to cannot be determined - usually because the reference points to an abstract class of people of any gender ("a manager") and not to a particular person of known gender ("John Smith"). In OP's case, the gender of their significant other is known, so why use "they" instead of "he" or "she"?
- DJBunnies 5y agoTo respect their gender identity.
- elbows 5y agoOP's partner may be non-binary or otherwise use they/them pronouns.
- anonymoushn 5y agoIt seems appropriate to use whenever their gender is irrelevant.
- killtimeatwork 5y agoIn this case, it creates extra confusion and extra mental overhead, because of double meaning of "they".
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoI understood what they meant perfectly well. Are you perhaps not a native English speaker?
- brokensegue 5y agoIt was very clear to me.
- leetcrew 5y agodo you also find the indeterminate number of "you" confusing?
- ShroudedNight 5y agoNot OP, but thy question evokes an odd pining for idiomatic use of the second person singular in general English.
- villasv 5y agoBecause they want to.
- OJFord 5y agoEveryone's assuming modern notions of 'identification', what happened to good old anonymity? Perhaps 'ReactiveJelly' just doesn't want to reveal (or rather probabilistically point at) their own gender, or that of their 'SO'. It's not like they said 'wife' or 'husband' and then 'them'.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]