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Stylebooks Finally Embrace the Single 'They' (cjr.org)

Posted by msmash on from the serenity-now dept.

Two major style manuals are now allowing the singular use of "they" in certain circumstances. While this is a victory for common sense, the paths taken are unusual in the evolution of usage. From a report on Columbia Journal Review: Both manuals, the Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style, emphasize that "they" cannot be used with abandon. Even so, it's the middle of the end for the insistence that "they" can be only a plural pronoun. To recap: In English, there is no gender-neutral pronoun for a single person. In French, for example, the pronoun on can stand in for "he" or "she." English has no such equivalent; "it" is our singular pronoun, so devoid of gender that calling a person "it" is often considered insulting. We could use "one," but that is a very impersonal pronoun. Consider this sentence, for instance. "Everyone needs to be sure to tighten ____ safety belt before approaching the cliff." The article adds: For hundreds of years, anyone writing formally would default to "he." Advances in women's rights led to the clumsy "he or she." Many writers alternate "he" or "she." This twisting and turning is because what's known as "the epicene they" has been considered incorrect. [...] But that's not the "they" the style guides have let loose. Simply, the singular "they" will be allowed if someone prefers that pronoun.

17 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. Hoo-ray! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's to he or she who finally decided this!

    1. Re:Hoo-ray! by LifesABeach · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ebonics rises again! LOL

  2. How by aoism · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How is this related to tech in anyway whatsoever?

    1. Re: How by slasher999 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You misspelled "grammar" there the second time you used it.

    2. Re:How by DogDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Slashdot isn't about tech exclusively. It's for nerds. There are all kinds of nerds, including grammar nerds.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
  3. Nope, I'll use he, she, they, there, their etc... by p51d007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Everyone needs to be sure to tighten __their___ safety belt before approaching the cliff."

  4. "While this is a victory for common sense" by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Heh. For half of Indo-European population that learned English as a second language, speaking as one of those people, it's more of a constant confusion than anything even resembling common sense.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  5. Shows the arbitrariness of style books by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

    Singluar they has been used at least since Shakespeare's day.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  6. Already A Pronoun For It by Fieryphoenix · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One wonders where one's language went.

  7. Re:I don't see it by Nemyst · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unfortunate that the two words have almost nothing in common then, right? "One" comes from the Germanic ancestry of English which itself took it from Latin and it meant "one" the whole way through. The French "On" actually comes from the Latin "homo", or human being.

    What's more, even ignoring etymology, the two words have basically opposed uses: "One" is very formal and impersonal, whereas "On" tends to be favored in informal speech. It also really is not a good gender-neutral pronoun and is basically never used as such in French, which still favors the masculine form as the gender-neutral form.

  8. Nonsense by OhPlz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is nonsense. "He" has always been the default in English when the gender is unknown or not relevant.

    French using "on" is no different than referring to an unknown person as "one" in English. We don't use "one" that way very often because it doesn't sound right because we're used to using "he" instead. Of course it sounds impersonal, it's not using "he" or "she". It's meant to be impersonal!

    1. Re:Nonsense by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's an education thing. People who know how English evolved know that 'he' can be both masculine or neuter, depending on context. It's been that way since before 'ye', 'thou', 'thy' and similar words went away.

      People who are uneducated may assume that 'he' is only masculine and will choose to feel oppressed about it. I can't imagine how bad those people feel using romance languages where half of the nouns are masculine gendered.

      It's somewhat awkward, but less so than losing the singular/plural distinction. Style guides are a useful reference, but feel free to ignore their inconsistencies and poor suggestions.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  9. Re:Nope, I'll use he, she, they, there, their etc. by aix+tom · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's why I would probably say "Make sure your student brings the f***ing book to class." in style.

  10. Yeesh by markdavis · · Score: 4, Informative

    >"Consider this sentence, for instance. "Everyone needs to be sure to tighten ____ safety belt before approaching the cliff."

    Sorry, that is easy and was solved hundreds of years ago and without using "his". The answer is "one's".

    "Everyone needs to be sure to tighten one's safety belt before approaching the cliff."

  11. Stylemanual... by Bartles · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...is newspeak for the word newspeak.

  12. Re:What a bunch of pompus crap by SirSlud · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I love people who complain when faced with nobody forcing them to do anything at all.

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  13. Other usages that are changing by Solandri · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Other shifts I've noticed in general vernacular over the last 30 years:
    • Less vs. fewer. Countable items are supposed to use 'fewer' ("10 items or fewer"). Non-countable items are supposed to use 'less' ("less water"). But nowadays I hardly ever see 'fewer' being used. Nearly everyone uses 'less' for both cases.
    • "and I" vs "and me". When I was young, the common error was to use "and me" when you were supposed to use "and I". e.g. "My wife and me went to the party" is incorrect. "My wife and I went to the party" is correct. The frequent correction by grammar nazis caused people to overcompensate, and now they say "and I" even when they're supposed to use "and me." e.g. "The dog sat by my wife and I" is incorrect. "The dog sat by my wife and me" is correct. A quick way to test is to eliminate the conjunction. "The dog sat by I" is clearly wrong, while "The dog sat by me" is right. So in this case you're supposed to use "and me".
    • Who vs whom. As with "and I" vs "and me" above, who is a subject, whom is an object. But almost everyone uses 'who' for both subject and object now.

    BTW, my solution to "he or she" in writing was to simply add a slash - "s/he". One extra character and the same number of characters as "they". Unfortunately there's no way to pronounce it, so when speaking I usually use "they".

    Don't even get me started on the silly rules about punctuation inside or outside quotation marks, which prioritize conformity over meaning.