6 ms·
Given that the attacker is unknown, the correct term would be they or them. Gender is unknown, a gender neutral description should be used.
by mhurron 12y ago
Given that the attacker is unknown, the correct term would be they or them. Gender is unknown, a gender neutral description should be used.
- Somasis 12y agoYeah, true. Most authors seem to like to assume male, though. :(
- reinhardt 12y agoYeah, contrary to the overwhelming evidence of evil female hackers... /s
- ExpiredLink 12y ago>> I won't post it on here because it isn't my intention to start a witch hunt. It must be a female.
- MichaelGG 12y agoNo, many authors just use the default pronoun, which happens to be male. I don't like it. But that's a defect in English. They/Them is less precise. Using "her" actually apparently attracts attention away from the content. Perhaps mixing both within a longer body of text is a more subtle way.
- jakobegger 12y agoI like "they". It's especially suitable in this case, because we don't even know if it is a single person, or a group, or maybe even an automated attack (allthough that sounds unlikely). "They" leaves it open to the reader to imagine their stereotypical hacker.
- thomasvarney723 12y agoI agree "they"/"them" sounds cleaner than "he or she"/"him or her" but isn't it officially incorrect? I do like that Facebook has started using "they"/"them".
- mhurron 12y agoWhy would it be incorrect? Now it could be against style guides for an organization, but that is something of an arbitrary decision.
- monochromatic 12y ago"They" is plural.
- cddotdotslash 12y agoBut they is plural, so wouldn't the author technically need to say "he or she" for each occurrence? Sadly, English has no singular gender neutral pronoun.
- Somasis 12y agoThey can be used singular. Most people use it without thinking about it in conversation.
- monochromatic 12y agoOnly people who don't mind sounding ignorant.
- enneff 12y agoRelax. They sound just fine.
- TheyAreFine 12y ago"...including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Thackeray, and Shaw" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
- dang 12y agoOh yeah. Also Byron ("Every body does and says what they please"), Austen ("Nobody thinks of that when they fall in love"), Thackeray ("A person can't help their birth"), Wilde ("Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"), Shaw ("It's enough to drive anyone out of their senses"), Lewis Carroll: "'Whoever lives there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them this size: why, I should frighten them out of their wits!'" C. S. Lewis: "She kept her head and kicked her shoes off, as everybody ought to do who falls into deep water in their clothes." Doris Lessing: "And how easy the way a man or woman would come in here, glance around, find smiles and pleasant looks waiting for them, then wave and sit down by themselves." E.B. White: "But somebody taught you, didn’t they?” This is settled. Singular 'they' is good English and always has been. The rule against it was just made up by 18th century grammarians (including the fascinating Ann Fisher [4], who surely would regret it now) and they even got a law passed in 1850 prohibiting it, which only goes to show how widely used it was. 1. https://web.archive.org/web/20150328135337/http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/sgtheirl.html https://web.archive.org/web/20150328135337/http://www.crossm... 2. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.h... 3. http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austhlis.html http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austhlis.html 4. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0&gwh=CC1FD7DF9F445A743AE7FFF6E7016729&gwt=pay http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/magazine/26FOB-onlanguage-...