[ghshephard]

Languages develop. I was told never to use "due to" instead of "because". Told never to use "quote" instead of "quotation". And, I was told that "horrific" was not a word.

All of those things are no longer true, based on my casual reading of the New York Times.

(Note - I was also told to use "He" as the generic case for singular person. Outside of english 11/12, I've never used anything other than "they" - and have never had anyone comment on it. "They" as the singular person form is fine, and avoids the gender confusion.)

[Semiapies]

Indeed, singular "they" has been used in English for over four hundred years.

[k__]

In german we have something like this too.

If you know someone rather well, you say

"Wie geht es dir" - "How are you?"

but if you don't know him, you say

"Wie geht es ihnen?", which literally means "How are they?"

Also, back in the old days, you would talk to the nobility in plural.

"Wie geht es euch?", there is no equivalent in English I guess, since you is plural and singular, "How are you?"