Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by the_other 3561 days ago
> This is just silly

Given an HN reader took the trouble to email me their thanks for my comment, I respectfully disagree. To do this, they had find my email address by following some of my other comments, linking to a website, following through to github... The email they wrote was articulate. They put in real effort to say "thanks".

> "he" is a gender neutral pronoun when referring to a person of unspecified gender (as in other languages).

In some dictionaries, yes. A possible counter-argument to this is that the tradition of that usage comes from cultures with significant inbuilt misogyny.

> "They" is plural.

Sometimes. - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/they - http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbin...

> "Ve" is not a word.

I can read it, write it, say it and find other like usages in numerous places. To me, that reflects most of the necessary facets of "a word". - https://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.com - http://vevemvir.tumblr.com - http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Cultural/Art/eganrev.html - http://www.dictionary.com/browse/etymology - http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Made-Up-Word

> "S/he" is awkward and unnecessary

Agreed. I dislike this form. A similar option is to alternate use of "he" and "she". This form is common, and probably the simplest. I wish I'd suggested it.

> we can argue that it is misandrous because you're capitalizing the "S" and prioritizing "She" over "he"

That was you, not me.