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We need a gender-neutral pronoun already. If you use "he" when it comes to a hypothetical person, someone will say you're sexist, if you use "she" someone will
by Dewie 13y ago
We need a gender-neutral pronoun already. If you use "he" when it comes to a hypothetical person, someone will say you're sexist, if you use "she" someone will think you're overly PC, and writing "he/she" just doesn't roll of the minds tongue.
EDIT: I've heard that "they" can be used.
- nemetroid 13y agoThe introduction of a genderless pronoun is a current topic in Sweden. Let me assure you that the accusations about being overly PC are far more prevalent when using the new gender-neutral pronoun than when simply using the female one.
- Dewie 13y agoIndeed, that is the biggest problem with trying to use gender-neutral pronouns. You'll probably be perceived as either someone who is overly cautious about offending someone, or a gender studies academic or something similar to that. Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, but you can't have words being associated with certain "types" if you want to achieve general colloquial adoption.
- ochiba 13y agoAgreed, and the singular 'they' sounds sufficiently natural to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
- lesterbuck 13y agoEnglish already has gender neutral pronouns, though they are so rare or new that I only ran across one a few months ago. The words are: zhe, zher, zhim. I'm still waiting to actually hear one of these come out of someone's mouth... http://www.progress.org/fold162.htm http://www.progress.org/fold162.htm