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by CiPHPerCoder 2568 days ago
Clearly "they" refers to the recipient of this sentence. /s

Unlike e.g. German, English doesn't have a gender neutral singular pronoun to use. The only one that fits naturally in most peoples' conversation (and doesn't sound like something uttered by a science fiction-inspired cult) is "singular they".

2 comments

The gender neutral singular pronoun in German "es" is the same as the english "it". And it would be weird to apply it to a person in both languages.
>Unlike e.g. German, English doesn't have a gender neutral singular pronoun to use.

What German pronoun are you talking about?

My German is very rusty. I was thinking of the different gendered language bits in general rather than pronouns in particular.
Which bits? In German Er is used for such purposes.
Me: says something

You: points out I'm wrong

Me: concedes I'm mistaken

You: continues to question me

Why?