5 ms·
Oh, it's pretty bad. Using masculine gendered pronouns in that way steals individual identity from an entire sex! Unambiguously misandrist. Until it recently be
by ashark 12y ago
Oh, it's pretty bad. Using masculine gendered pronouns in that way steals individual identity from an entire sex! Unambiguously misandrist. Until it recently became fairly common to use feminine pronouns in the same way, "she" was always a particular person, while "he" may not be. I'm so glad the uncertainty and loss of self is now shared at least in part by both sexes, but we still have a long way to go to equality. </sarcasm>
(Seriously, please use third person plural for this—I still trip over feminine indeterminate pronouns thinking I've missed who in particular we're talking about. Third person plural has a long history of serving this purpose, embrace it.)
- peri 12y agoPersonally, I prefer indefinite articles for third person when possible, but you should talk to folks fluent in your target languages for clarification. For example, when we're talking in French, I don't mind folks (especially students and non-native speakers like myself) confusing on/il/elle. Il faut imaginer and On faut imaginer are only very subtly different and not enough to bother this French speaker. That said, if you're posting to someplace that deals with regular recurrences of Eternal September, you're better off being cautious. A lot of the 25-35 year old "digital native" crowd has been seriously burned by WELL leaks and the like.