49 ms·

I now see the opposite effect: everyone is scared to look sexist so everyone ends up putting "she". Maybe we should call programmers "it"?

• nailer 17y ago
  'they' is a natural sounding gender neutral term.
  • Periodic 17y ago
    Except the interviewee is not plural. We lack a singular gender-neutral pronoun in English that it is acceptable to apply to people, and appropriating "they" doesn't seem like the right fix. Personally, I vote we either appropriate "he" to be gender neutral or realize that stereotypes influence language more than language influences stereotypes.
    • mblakele 17y ago
      Singular "they" isn't an appropriation - it's a reversion to pre-1850 usage. See http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/sgtheirl.html http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/sgtheirl.html for details.