He/She... or the One?

[Infected Mushroom]

It says on wikipedia

''The singular they is the use of this pronoun as a gender-neutral singular rather than as a plural pronoun. The correctness of this usage is disputed.''

Apparently, we aren't yet there in terms of the social zeitgeist

Except we already use they. A lot.

A huge segment of the population doesn't

Hence why there is work to be done

and perhaps the point can be better made by pushing a new pronoun instead

[Aelex]

Yeah, they is super sexist - secretly, however. If you notice, the word "he" is still hidden in it: THEY. It's another act on the patriarchal folks' part to encourage the belief that men are superior to women and therefore should be used as the default indefinite pronoun. /sarcasm

To be fair, in Latin Languages, "le masculin l'emporte toujours" which mean that if you are talking about a group composed of two thousand thousands women and one man, you'll have to use the male pronoun. Now, this rule is rooted more on simplicity rather than on sexism.

[Italios]

I'm not a huge fan of intentionally trying to be gender neutral. All it does is makes life exhausting, especially when you consider that it's usually implied to apply to the other sex equally. If I find out that I got their gender wrong, I'll make an edit. But I'm not going to do that if I say he when we're talking about a theoretical person.

But don't you think that use of such language unintentionally reinforces inequality and discrimination?

Also, why would it be exhausting?

Let's begin with getting rid of mankind and replacing it with humankind. Permanently.

[Saint Kitten]

We have they.

"They" cannot refer to an individual, however, being a plural pronoun.

Yes it can.

(used with an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine he or the definite feminine she)

Emphasis mine.

[Infected Mushroom]

But don't you think that use of such language unintentionally reinforces inequality and discrimination?

Also, why would it be exhausting?

Let's begin with getting rid of mankind and replacing it with humankind. Permanently.

Okay

[Italios]

Except we already use they. A lot.

A huge segment of the population doesn't

Hence why there is work to be done

and perhaps the point can be better made by pushing a new pronoun instead

Even harder to introduce, will more likely to be faced by hostility, hard to remember in english's mass of personal pronouns, we'd need an objective and nominative form of the new one - just too much work.

[The Empire of Pretantia]

Except we already use they. A lot.

A huge segment of the population doesn't

Hence why there is work to be done

and perhaps the point can be better made by pushing a new pronoun instead

How?

[The Serbian Empire]

I use they and one almost interchangeably. It covers male, female, and the non-binary!

[Saint Kitten]

Using one as the replacement can sound rather clunky at times, and sound like you are constantly trying to be formal, as if you're reading someone's essay.

"(The) one is going to the park." Sounds so much worse than just "They are going to the park." They could be mistaken for multiple people, but it shouldn't be that hard to clear up in normal conversation if you were talking about one person anyways.

The pronoun automatically attaches itself to the nearest previous noun so it clarifies itself:
"Where is Saint Kitten?"

"They're going to the park."

Due to the fact that saint kitten isn't plural, they wouldn't be either.

In some situations I guess I could see a confusion, if you're talking about a group of people and one person in the same sentence, but clarification would only take another sentence. Unfortunately, I can't think of an example at the moment.

[Vassenor]

But what about multiple-system individuals? "One" implies a single entity inhabiting a body and therefore discriminates against them.

[Italios]

I use they and one almost interchangeably. It covers male, female, and the non-binary!

One is more of an indefinite pronoun than personal pronoun. It's used when you're not referring to a specific noun ("one of those pencils") while they is more specific, used when you're referring to a group of people or one distinguished person.

[Saint Kitten]

But what about multiple-system individuals? "One" implies a single entity inhabiting a body and therefore discriminates against them.

One could refer to the singular body itself, not the multiple spirits/deities/whatever inhabiting it.

[Ifreann]

I think we should just establish a Language Police with broad powers to enforce the proper use of a perfectly gender neutral language, which we'll get around to constructing later, I guess.

[Italios]

I think we should just establish a Language Police with broad powers to enforce the proper use of a perfectly gender neutral language, which we'll get around to constructing later, I guess.

I second this.

[Calimera II]

English already has a perfectly good gender-neutral pronoun.

''They'' sounds extremely silly.

[Saint Kitten]

English already has a perfectly good gender-neutral pronoun.

''They'' sounds extremely silly.

What would you prefer?

[Saint Kitten]

I think we should just establish a Language Police with broad powers to enforce the proper use of a perfectly gender neutral language, which we'll get around to constructing later, I guess.

So, basically, we give Grammar Nazis government funding?

[Calimera II]

''They'' sounds extremely silly.

What would you prefer?

I have no idea, but ''they'' refers to more than one person. And it's silly to say ''they'' to one person, as if he/she could not make up whether to be a boy or a girl.

[Conscentia]

This one prefers indefinite pronouns.

[Italios]

What would you prefer?

I have no idea, but ''they'' refers to more than one person. And it's silly to say ''they'' to one person, as if he/she could not make up whether to be a boy or a girl.

1. They can be used as a singular pronoun as well, as said many times on this thread.
2. What about the Internet, when we're behind screens and not sure of genders?
3. Suggest something at least, or we'll have nothing.

[Immoren]

Why are English speakers so obsessed with gender pronouns and "he"/"she"?

In Afrikaans we can use "sy" in casual context to refer to a female pronoun (she, etc), a male pronoun (his), as well as a person of undetermined gender and even inanimate objects and nobody gives a monkey's. It can mean she, he, or it when we're too lazy to care. But yet there's no stigma whatsoever attached to speaking this way.

English needs a sy.

[Calimera II]

I have no idea, but ''they'' refers to more than one person. And it's silly to say ''they'' to one person, as if he/she could not make up whether to be a boy or a girl.

1. They can be used as a singular pronoun as well, as said many times on this thread.
2. What about the Internet, when we're behind screens and not sure of genders?
3. Suggest something at least, or we'll have nothing.

1. For me it sounds plural.
2. I think many girls have been called 'he' on the internet and nobody has ever cried because of that.
3. No, I will not. I strongly dislike the use of 'they', and I cannot think of an alternative.

[Conscentia]

What would you prefer?

I have no idea, but ''they'' refers to more than one person. And it's silly to say ''they'' to one person, as if he/she could not make up whether to be a boy or a girl.

While this one would rather not defend the singular 'they', this one will point out that the evolution of plural pronouns to singular pronouns has precedence in English - the pronoun 'you' was once exclusively plural and the pronoun 'thou/thee' was used as the singular.

[Calimera II]

I have no idea, but ''they'' refers to more than one person. And it's silly to say ''they'' to one person, as if he/she could not make up whether to be a boy or a girl.

While this one would rather not defend the singular 'they', this one will point out that the evolution of plural pronouns to singular pronouns has precedence in English - the pronoun 'you' was once exclusively plural and the pronoun 'thou/thee' was used as the singular.

That may well be right.

[Italios]

1. They can be used as a singular pronoun as well, as said many times on this thread.
2. What about the Internet, when we're behind screens and not sure of genders?
3. Suggest something at least, or we'll have nothing.

1. For me it sounds plural.
2. I think many girls have been called 'he' on the internet and nobody has ever cried because of that.
3. No, I will not. I strongly dislike the use of 'they', and I cannot think of an alternative.

1. For most it does not. There are general grammar rules that unfortunately trump your personal opinions. As the pronoun in a sentence automatically latches on to the nearest previous noun, they would be able to connect with a singular noun, thus it could be used singular.
2. You're right, not all do. I wouldn't, that's being overreactive. But better being safe than sorry.
3. Fine, they it is.