Author Topic: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread  (Read 6556 times)

Offline cayenne

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #300 on: June 20, 2019, 05:41:41 am »
Warning- controversial.

I dislike the singular "they". I wish English had gender-neutral singular pronouns for people.

I will still respect and use "they/them/they/theirs" for people who prefer them.

But how I wish there were a gender neutral one. I mean, if English is progressive enough for inanimate objects to be gender neutral, it should also have a singular one for human beings.

They is a singular pronoun in English. What does being ‘progressive’ have to do with having gender neutral pronouns for inanimate objects?

"They" is a plural pronoun, but English uses it informally in lieu of a gender neutral singular pronoun. It solves the linguistic problem neatly, and I don't quite understand the objection to the usage.

It can be singular as well depending on the antecedent.

Would you mind giving me an example? I'm not calling you out, I'm just trying to think of an example and I can't.

Offline yourdadjustcallsmekatya

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #301 on: June 20, 2019, 06:00:14 am »
Warning- controversial.

I dislike the singular "they". I wish English had gender-neutral singular pronouns for people.

I will still respect and use "they/them/they/theirs" for people who prefer them.

But how I wish there were a gender neutral one. I mean, if English is progressive enough for inanimate objects to be gender neutral, it should also have a singular one for human beings.

They is a singular pronoun in English. What does being ‘progressive’ have to do with having gender neutral pronouns for inanimate objects?

"They" is a plural pronoun, but English uses it informally in lieu of a gender neutral singular pronoun. It solves the linguistic problem neatly, and I don't quite understand the objection to the usage.

It can be singular as well depending on the antecedent.

Would you mind giving me an example? I'm not calling you out, I'm just trying to think of an example and I can't.

Sure. This article has a good explanation of how it operates as both.

Offline Airelenaren

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #302 on: June 20, 2019, 07:21:29 am »
Meanwhile, I just wish that German had any gender neutral pronouns for people at all (because I'm certainly not going to call anyone "it"). I hate it when I want to talk about a non-binary friend and can only choose between using "he" and "she" interchangingly, or replacing every pronoun with "this person"/"my friend"/something similar.
Maybe now that we finally acknowledge the existence of non-binary people, someone will come up with a proper pronoun for them.
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Offline lowspark

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #303 on: June 20, 2019, 12:37:40 pm »
I agree that "they" is plural. It is often used as singular as a non-gender-specific pronoun but in fact, English does have one!
It's "one".
As in "to each one's own" instead of "to each his own" or "to each their own".

It's just not in common usage.
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Offline Airelenaren

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #304 on: June 20, 2019, 05:58:12 pm »
I don't think that fulfills quite the same purpose. Would you say "my coworker hasn't told me one's pronouns yet"? To me, "one" sounds more generic and less person-specific. "My new coworker hasn't told me their pronouns yet" sounds better, to me personally.
(Obviously not a native speaker, though.)
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Offline yourdadjustcallsmekatya

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #305 on: June 20, 2019, 06:33:37 pm »
Sorry I just realised that the link didn’t post. https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/
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Offline cayenne

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #306 on: June 20, 2019, 11:03:39 pm »
Thank you for the article! I have to point out that it still isn't considered standard formal English for "they" to be accepted as a singular antecedent. In maybe thirty years it will, but it's not strictly correct English and many teachers still object to the usage. I think the usage is fine, I just object to the label "singular antecedent," which I guess is kind of silly for me to object to.
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Offline MrTango

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Re: The "Unpopular Opinions" Thread
« Reply #307 on: June 21, 2019, 09:54:33 am »
English absolutely *does* have a singular, gender neutral pronoun: "it."  The problem arises when using the term "it" to refer to a person, because doing so has historically negative undertones.