The Elements of Style has been systematically debunked a number of times. White & Strunk frequently stated some crazy hard-and-fast rule and then broke it in th

The Elements of Style has been systematically debunked a number of times. White & Strunk frequently stated some crazy hard-and-fast rule and then broke it in their own usage of English in the next chapter. When you don't know the gender of the subject, don't use a gender-specific pronoun. Done. Now, should we refactor a code base to achieve this, that's a whole other kettle of fish. I'd say, why not. It's not like sed is a difficult tool to use. But to each their own on that one.