On 09/22/2015 01:43 PM, Mark Dilger wrote:
On Sep 22, 2015, at 6:09 AM, Andrew Dunstan <and...@dunslane.net> wrote:
You are fighting a losing battle. Think of they/them/their/theirs as being
indefinitely gendered third person singular pronouns, as well as being third
person plural pronouns. Yes it's a relatively new usage, but I don't think its
at all unreasonable (speaking as someone who has been known to dislike some new
usages and neologisms). It's not at all sloppy. On the contrary, it's quite
deliberate. It's just not quite traditional. You need to get over that.
The use of "their" as singular dates back at least as far as Chaucer in the
14th century, prior to
the use of "you" as a singular pronoun. Militant grammarian schoolteachers may
have told you
not to use it that way, but that doesn't change the history of its use.
[recipient list trimmed]
Good point. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was deemed by some
grammarians to be incorrect for some reason, (and yet Thackeray still
used it in Vanity Fair, for instance) and now some reactionaries and
misogynists are fighting to maintain that somewhat latter day rule. But
I'm pretty certain their numbers will dwindle, as they preach to an ever
shrinking choir.
cheers
andrew
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