[gruseom]

Singular "they" goes back centuries. Shakespeare and Jane Austen both used it. Its comeback as the solution to the gender-neutral conundrum seems to me a pretty good answer to changing social conditions. It does stand out too much sometimes, but "he" and "she" stand out way worse, especially the dreadful overcompensating "I'll just self-consciously regulate my gender distribution and make sure that at least half of the time my programmers and executives are a she" business, which is based on a misunderstanding of how language evolves. You don't get to pick and choose your own usages - not without sounding pompous and stilted.

None of these options are perfect because language, like society, is in a transitional period. But I'd be surprised if singular "they" doesn't end up winning. To my ear it has already very much pulled ahead. Not that it matters what any of us thinks. Language will evolve however it does. Usages are incorrect until they hit critical mass and become correct.