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Or they could use one of various invented gender-neutral pronouns, including those listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neutra

• nucleardog 13y ago
  Using obscure and/or not generally understood words when other more common and perfectly valid words exist in common speech is hostile to anyone who isn't a native English speaker. And many that are. Using those invented words is 'hostile' to more people than any other option.
• seniorsassycat 13y ago
  If the pull request had used one of these I could understand the request being closed, one, they, and them sound much more natural.
• freditup 13y ago
  These aren't really used at all in real-world English though (at least American English). So the result would be a very awkward phrase and probably a phrase that is understood by fewer people than before. The technically grammatically-incorrect plural pronouns come off sounding better and in my opinion are the better choice if the use of gender-specific pronouns is an issue that needs to be addressed. I don't personally mind the use of masculine pronouns to indicate a generic person, because I think there's nothing inherently wrong with it, but in the tech world it's good to be careful as there clearly are gender issues to be sensitive of. I think another good solution to this kind of wording issue is to just use masculine pronouns in some places and feminine pronouns in others.
  • lowboy 13y ago
    Yeah, agreed. Singular "they" is the best path forward IMO.