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"unless it was a large startup and the founder herself had gone to that school." Small gripe, but "herself"? Better as "and the founder had gone…" Even him/her
by personlurking 13y ago
"unless it was a large startup and the founder herself had gone to that school."
Small gripe, but "herself"? Better as "and the founder had gone…" Even him/herself is a good option.
"Finally, our sector is on top and these young people want to come and join us."
It's like saying "and these young women…"
- countrybama24 13y agoFunny, I don't see many corrections on here when articles use male pronouns incorrectly.
- scarecrowbob 13y agoFormer university English instructor here; the usage you are critiquing is widely regarded as a good tradeoff between deferring to the gendering baked into our language and recognizing the integration of a population. It's often much easier to write and read pronouns, and it is my opinion (though far from an accepted truth) that alternating him/her when contextually appropriate is less clunky than using the him/herself construction. As a writing instructor, I personally have no problem with "himself" being used in a broader, non-gendered construction... and for the same reason have no problem with a similar usage of "herself", though as I say, opinions vary.
- a8da6b0c91d 13y agoIn English the male pronoun is the generic and has been for centuries. Every time somebody misuses she/her as the generic I'm knocked into a moment of confusion wondering who this sudden specific chick is. Let's cut the crap; when people write she/her/womankind for the generic it's about PC. It's not standard English.
- codr 13y ago> "In English the male pronoun is the generic" Indeed.. and that's the problem. The times, they are a changin!
- mitochondrion 13y agoSorry, but why is that at all a problem?
- argonaut 13y agoThere are no fixed rules in language over time.
- scarecrowbob 13y ago"In English the male pronoun is the generic and has been for centuries. " Well, so has treating women like second class humans, but hopefully we can overcome that, too, no? Languages live... yes it is about acknowledging difference, but so what? "Every time somebody misuses she/her as the generic I'm knocked into a moment of confusion wondering who this sudden specific chick is." I was at the barber in my tiny Texas town today... you should have heard their comments when "his husband" came over the TV audio... they were shocked, too.