Comments on: English Rant http://pigsflew.com/archives/445 Realization of a Dream Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:57:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tom http://pigsflew.com/archives/445/comment-page-1#comment-1077 Tom Wed, 20 Dec 2006 06:17:20 +0000 http://pigsflew.com/archives/445#comment-1077 So... what about phrases like, "I only want the best for my next child. They're going to be all set for their future", or "The doctor said that the kidney will take. I hope they are right" (imagine the second phrase as after someone told the speaker the same information, but declined to inform him of the necessary gender-related information). I'm not sure if that makes sense to me. 'Their' works, I know, but it's common knowledge that it can take a specific indeterminate object. 'He' was generally the default "gender-neutral" pronoun in the case of a specifically mentioned, indeterminate object. For further clarity, we'll point to your examples. All forms of 'they' that you mention have unspecified people, or a group of people as their antecedents. They don't have a specific person, like, for example, "my next child" or "the doctor". I'm not proposing that we have ridiculously made up names. I think it'd be nice to push for 'they' to include indefinite singular objects. I'm just more a fan of the (possibly sexist) 'he' as an indeterminate pronoun. It might be archaic, but I enjoy tradition as being a meaningful part of my heritage, and archaic things stay with me (translation: I'm a stubborn jackass who does't want to evolve). So… what about phrases like, “I only want the best for my next child. They’re going to be all set for their future”, or “The doctor said that the kidney will take. I hope they are right” (imagine the second phrase as after someone told the speaker the same information, but declined to inform him of the necessary gender-related information).

I’m not sure if that makes sense to me. ‘Their’ works, I know, but it’s common knowledge that it can take a specific indeterminate object. ‘He’ was generally the default “gender-neutral” pronoun in the case of a specifically mentioned, indeterminate object.

For further clarity, we’ll point to your examples. All forms of ‘they’ that you mention have unspecified people, or a group of people as their antecedents. They don’t have a specific person, like, for example, “my next child” or “the doctor”.

I’m not proposing that we have ridiculously made up names. I think it’d be nice to push for ‘they’ to include indefinite singular objects. I’m just more a fan of the (possibly sexist) ‘he’ as an indeterminate pronoun. It might be archaic, but I enjoy tradition as being a meaningful part of my heritage, and archaic things stay with me (translation: I’m a stubborn jackass who does’t want to evolve).

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