Re: Singular "they". Was Re: A China-Sumer connection

From: Martyn Harrison (nospam_at_spammers.of.the.world.unite)
Date: 03/03/05 

Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 14:49:25 GMT

Apparently on date Wed, 2 Mar 2005 21:10:46 -0000, "Dylan Sung"
<dylanwhs.tsktsktsk@pacific.net.hk> said:

>
>"Martyn Harrison" <nospam@spammers.of.the.world.unite> wrote in message
>news:kvpb21h4pog3od3cj8oi70kn761e4jfd3n@4ax.com...
>> Apparently on date Wed, 2 Mar 2005 08:22:02 -0000, "Dylan Sung"
>> <dylanwhs.tsktsktsk@pacific.net.hk> said:
>>
>>>
>>>"John Atkinson" <johnacko@bigpond.com> wrote in message
>>>news:RGdVd.180795$K7.105301@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>>>>
>>>> "Dylan Sung" <dylanwhs.tsktsktsk@pacific.net.hk> wrote ...
>>>>>
>>>>> .... They will come back and discuss what he/she's read and
>>>>> this enriches any discussion.
>>>>
>>>> Is this the famous plural "he/she"? What do you think Jacques? Reckon
>>>> it'll catch on?
>>>>
>>>
>>>I could do better and use "s/he". I've also seen "hir" for him/her ...
>>
>> Why not just "they've" ?
>
>Kinda sounds wrong to me when referring to a singular person.

I think there are some situations where you can't use "they" instead of "he" or
"she", but most of the time you can.

Must admit, I try to use non-gender specific terms when talking about a person
who might be either, and it's usually automatic because there are usually
suitable terms to be had. One exception is "mankind", there's no "themkind"
option on that word, but as it means all of us regardless of gender...

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