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As a non-native english speaker this post confuses me a lot, did the HoL highlight their own favourite bits? Was it a group of friends that checked out the proc

As a non-native english speaker this post confuses me a lot, did the HoL highlight their own favourite bits? Was it a group of friends that checked out the proceedings?

judge2020 5y ago
It's a bit confusing (this is commonly called playing the pronoun game, where pronouns are used without context on what they're referring to), but they mean that their friend is the one highlighting good parts in the book.
- tunesmith 5y ago
  I've never heard "the pronoun game" but I know I have a habit of over-writing to avoid it. (Or maybe I'm writing just enough.)
  - tzs 5y ago
    OT: this is completely off topic, but I'd kind of like to see an effort to take advantage of the current reexamination that is taking place in some circles over the issue of gendered pronouns to just fix the whole damn pronoun system. We need a set of pronouns, which I'll call P1, P2, P3, ... for now to avoid having to think of names for them, that are based on position. P1 refers to the first thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, P2 refers to the second thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, and so on. We also might need a set of pronouns N1, N2, ... that refer to the last thing before the sentence that could take a pronoun, the next to last thing before the sentence that can take a pronoun, and so on.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - Izkata 5y ago
    "The pronoun game" isn't "using pronouns without context" as GP said, it's avoiding the use of pronouns at all (sometimes even "they" as that could be interpreted as avoidance, depending on how you usually talk) to avoid giving the listener any details about the person being talked about. It was (maybe still is?) common with LGBT people to refer to their boyfriend/girlfriend/partner in a way that didn't draw attention with friends, family, or co-workers that they weren't out to, who might not take it well.
    - saalweachter 5y ago
      The pronoun game also refers to a movie trope where ambiguity is used intentionally in story telling. E.g., every time someone says something like "he's dead", and the viewer - or even another character in the scene - immediately shouts "who!?!".
ceearrbee 5y ago
Hopefully this will help: Their friend checked out the proceedings (which are records of what goes on in Parliament, in this case the House of Lords (HoL), the body that legislates above the House of Commons) and then highlighted phrases inside the book they enjoyed (which were passages that were entertaining due to drama).
pezezin 5y ago
I'm not a native English speaker either, and my guess is that the poster is using the singular they, a quite recent trend which I find confusing as hell. So in this case is just a friend of indeterminate gender.
- bovermyer 5y ago
  Singular "they" is not recent at all. The earliest recorded usage of this form is from 1375 C.E., according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Further reading: https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/ https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they...
  - dataflow 5y ago
    There's certainly been a recent trend due to people pushing for everyone to use it more, though, which was the parent's point. Btw, not every usage of singular they is equally commonplace. e.g., "When someone says X, they mean Y" is a pretty typical sentence, whereas "My child told me they wanted this toy" is quite jarring in comparison. And then you have sentences like "My boss told me they preferred X" that people try to avoid in order to avoid potential ambiguity.
    - ptmcc 5y ago
      All of those uses have been common in standard American English for decades if not longer. Singular they is nothing new at all.
      - dataflow 5y ago
        > Singular they is nothing new at all. As if I claimed it was?
        emodendroket 5y ago
        That is the implication of calling it a trend.
alex-nikitin 5y ago
At a guess HoL stands for House of Lords. "They" in this instance would refer to the group.

As a non-native english speaker this post confuses me a lot, did the HoL highlight their own favourite bits? Was it a group of friends that checked out the proceedings?

judge2020 5y ago

It's a bit confusing (this is commonly called playing the pronoun game, where pronouns are used without context on what they're referring to), but they mean that their friend is the one highlighting good parts in the book.

tunesmith 5y ago
I've never heard "the pronoun game" but I know I have a habit of over-writing to avoid it. (Or maybe I'm writing just enough.)
- tzs 5y ago
  OT: this is completely off topic, but I'd kind of like to see an effort to take advantage of the current reexamination that is taking place in some circles over the issue of gendered pronouns to just fix the whole damn pronoun system. We need a set of pronouns, which I'll call P1, P2, P3, ... for now to avoid having to think of names for them, that are based on position. P1 refers to the first thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, P2 refers to the second thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, and so on. We also might need a set of pronouns N1, N2, ... that refer to the last thing before the sentence that could take a pronoun, the next to last thing before the sentence that can take a pronoun, and so on.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- Izkata 5y ago
  "The pronoun game" isn't "using pronouns without context" as GP said, it's avoiding the use of pronouns at all (sometimes even "they" as that could be interpreted as avoidance, depending on how you usually talk) to avoid giving the listener any details about the person being talked about. It was (maybe still is?) common with LGBT people to refer to their boyfriend/girlfriend/partner in a way that didn't draw attention with friends, family, or co-workers that they weren't out to, who might not take it well.
  - saalweachter 5y ago
    The pronoun game also refers to a movie trope where ambiguity is used intentionally in story telling. E.g., every time someone says something like "he's dead", and the viewer - or even another character in the scene - immediately shouts "who!?!".

ceearrbee 5y ago

Hopefully this will help: Their friend checked out the proceedings (which are records of what goes on in Parliament, in this case the House of Lords (HoL), the body that legislates above the House of Commons) and then highlighted phrases inside the book they enjoyed (which were passages that were entertaining due to drama).

pezezin 5y ago

I'm not a native English speaker either, and my guess is that the poster is using the singular they, a quite recent trend which I find confusing as hell. So in this case is just a friend of indeterminate gender.

bovermyer 5y ago
Singular "they" is not recent at all. The earliest recorded usage of this form is from 1375 C.E., according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Further reading: https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/ https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they...
- dataflow 5y ago
  There's certainly been a recent trend due to people pushing for everyone to use it more, though, which was the parent's point. Btw, not every usage of singular they is equally commonplace. e.g., "When someone says X, they mean Y" is a pretty typical sentence, whereas "My child told me they wanted this toy" is quite jarring in comparison. And then you have sentences like "My boss told me they preferred X" that people try to avoid in order to avoid potential ambiguity.
  - ptmcc 5y ago
    All of those uses have been common in standard American English for decades if not longer. Singular they is nothing new at all.
    - dataflow 5y ago
      > Singular they is nothing new at all. As if I claimed it was?
      - emodendroket 5y ago
        That is the implication of calling it a trend.

alex-nikitin 5y ago

At a guess HoL stands for House of Lords. "They" in this instance would refer to the group.