4 ms·

Ask HN: He v. She

1 points by Ardit20 18y ago

While doing some research I am noting that most authors are using she when last century they would have used he. Was there a meeting and I missed it? :P For some reason I feel uncomfortable when I read she instead of he. I don't think it sound natural :P What do you use? I like he, maybe (s)he but then what about his or her.

yan 18y ago
I use he almost always when 'one' sounds wrong. I'm not important enough to offend anyone. Plus, if someone is truly offended by seeing "he" in writing, they have bigger issues, in my opinion.
mooism2 18y ago
I use "they" and "their".
russell 18y ago
The use of he has been denounced as sexist. The problem is that there is no gender neutral third person singular pronoun in English. Well there is "one", but it sounds stilted. Some authors alternate between he and she, I sometimes use s/he. But s/him, s/his? In informal writing, I find myself using "you" a lot. Others are trying the plural for the singular. It sounds uneducated, but I bet it's the one that will take.
tome 18y ago
http://plover.net/~bonds/genderedlanguage.html http://plover.net/~bonds/genderedlanguage.html
DanielBMarkham 18y ago
He is the traditional gender-neutral pronoun. If you care about being denounced as sexist, you can make your writing do weird things, like s/he. If you're tired of being told how to think, just go with he. It worked for Shakespeare. It can work for you too. I find myself using "you" a lot when "he" would be much better. In my opinion, it lowers the quality of the material. Likewise, some authors want to impress you with their sensitivity and alternate between he and she. This I find particularly annoying, for I could care less the sex of a gender-neutral example. I find it distracting. The s/he thing is so far out there as to elicit a little pat on the head and a warm smile (as you would do to small children) to anyone who finds it useful. Sorry -- pet peeve of mine.
davidw 18y ago
"They" is actually quite good in many cases, and apparently even Shakespeare used it. It's not supposed to be "grammatically correct", but frankly I think it works a lot better than putting in a random he or she when the sex of the person is unknown. For example: "A child becomes an adult when they turn 18." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

Ask HN: He v. She

1 points by Ardit20 18y ago

yan 18y ago

I use he almost always when 'one' sounds wrong. I'm not important enough to offend anyone. Plus, if someone is truly offended by seeing "he" in writing, they have bigger issues, in my opinion.

mooism2 18y ago

I use "they" and "their".

russell 18y ago

The use of he has been denounced as sexist. The problem is that there is no gender neutral third person singular pronoun in English. Well there is "one", but it sounds stilted. Some authors alternate between he and she, I sometimes use s/he. But s/him, s/his? In informal writing, I find myself using "you" a lot. Others are trying the plural for the singular. It sounds uneducated, but I bet it's the one that will take.

tome 18y ago

http://plover.net/~bonds/genderedlanguage.html http://plover.net/~bonds/genderedlanguage.html

DanielBMarkham 18y ago

He is the traditional gender-neutral pronoun. If you care about being denounced as sexist, you can make your writing do weird things, like s/he. If you're tired of being told how to think, just go with he. It worked for Shakespeare. It can work for you too. I find myself using "you" a lot when "he" would be much better. In my opinion, it lowers the quality of the material. Likewise, some authors want to impress you with their sensitivity and alternate between he and she. This I find particularly annoying, for I could care less the sex of a gender-neutral example. I find it distracting. The s/he thing is so far out there as to elicit a little pat on the head and a warm smile (as you would do to small children) to anyone who finds it useful. Sorry -- pet peeve of mine.

davidw 18y ago

"They" is actually quite good in many cases, and apparently even Shakespeare used it. It's not supposed to be "grammatically correct", but frankly I think it works a lot better than putting in a random he or she when the sex of the person is unknown. For example: "A child becomes an adult when they turn 18." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they