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by krschultz 5596 days ago
What it really highlights is how English desperately lacks a gender independent way of saying he/she. I can't tell if you are a guy or girl based on your name, I bet most people don't know if the K in my name is Kevin, Kyle, Kris (guy or girl!), Kathy, Katrina etc. (for the record, it's Kevin). But most people when talking about me will just assume I'm a guy and use he.

I'm not offended by people incorrectly using gender pronouns, it is just really awkward to write something without knowing the gender of the person you are talking about.
1 comments
Groxx 5596 days ago
No, we have two. A kludge: "he/she" (which I personally despise and refuse to use), and something which people have used for a long time, but educational-America refuses to accept: "they".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_pronoun#Historic...

In particular:

>The singular "they" is widely used and accepted in Britain, Australia, and North America in conversation and, often, in at least informal writing as well. It is important to note that this is not recognized by the SATs and other standardized tests.

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TheSOB88 5596 days ago
'They' can't really refer to a person whose identity is known, though. At least, not for me. It feels wrong.
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Groxx 5596 days ago
It's also less efficient for anyone who's listening to you. Gender-specific pronouns help ensure you're talking about the same person. Personally though, I find myself saying "that's what they said" (or similar, in a non-joke-related context) pretty often. Usually past-tense, for some reason. * shrug * to each their own.

I do boggle that "they" isn't technically acceptable for cases where gender isn't known, though. "He/she" seems like insanity, both in writing and in speaking, when "they" sits there waiting to be used. It's extremely rare that context isn't sufficient to determine if it's plural or not. Heck, Japanese essentially does without plurals entirely, and that's a functioning language.

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