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Gender Neutral Pronouns

Which pronoun would you fill in the blank for '___ enjoys running in the breeze'.

  • Total voters
    37
and oh my god I hate it when people insist on using e/ey/eir (Spivak, I guess it's called). I mean, "Spivak" would be great if it was widely accepted, but it's not.
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oh no, people use something in the hopes of increasing its use! how utterly bizarre.

seriously, with an attitude like that, how are we supposed to get anything done?
 
Ruby said:
It is filthy, not clean, to use only gender-neutral pronouns. In language you ought to draw as many distinctions as you possibly can - by using the most precise word - because each one lessens ambiguity. The most precise word is the antecedent itself but, since we can not write 'Jane raised Jane's hand', the most precise word we can use is 'her'.
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This is a bit self-contradictory. Why, exactly, can't we do that?

There are languages where number, gender, pronouns, prepositions, and entire subjects are frequently omitted because they're redundant and a waste of everyone's time.

Ruby said:
Because distinctions are good, and we should use the distinctions which we have.
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If distinctions are good and you just said we should be as specific as possible, then why don't we get a distinct masculine pronoun?

Ruby said:
I've already said that a pure gender-neutral pronoun would be helpful, if there were one in common use.
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There won't BE one in common use if nobody uses them, and the only people capable of introducing new words are the people who already know they exist!

Ruby said:
In general, it is bad to use words which the reader doesn't know, unless it is the only fitting word.
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It's just a pronoun. It's trivial to figure out from context. I use Spivak all the time and I can't remember ever confusing anyone, just getting the occasional wtf.
 
Ruby said:
You don't understand how to use 'one'. 'A teacher must teach one's student' is utterly wrong. 'One' means either 'a person' or 'the ideal person'.
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Basically it's what people should use when they use "you" to mean "people in general" and not to refer to the individual they're addressing at the time =3
 
every single neologism ever coined has been a deliberate addendum to the language

including "neologism"

we need a word for something, so we create one. since when is this a bad thing
 
I like "he", personally. Sometimes I use "one", but using "one" can come off sounding rather pretentious. Using "he/she" seems unnecessarily cumbersome. "They" shouldn't be used to refer to one person, hypothetical or no -- I always think of multiple persons when "they" is used.

I suppose "she" is just as legitimate a pronoun as "he", but "he" seems to be the more standard term so I prefer to use it. I don't think that using "he" means that I'm a proponent of a male-dominated society or something; I think that's reading a bit too much into the term.

So, in conclusion, "he" is simple, doesn't sound awkward like "one", is more common than "she", is less hassle to write than "he/she", and is more grammatically correct than "they".
 
Ruby said:
But One isn't interchangeable with He. They mean two different things.
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I think most people in this thread are aware of this, and are capable of using "one" correctly. It's just that in a lot of cases, it's possible to rewrite a sentence so that "one" can be used instead of a pronoun (although it would probably sound pretty awkward most of the time).
 
My English teachers have always told me that "The teacher teaches their student" would be incorrect, so I mainly use "he or she", "his or hers", or "him or her". I feel like this keeps it open; if I see something that uses "he", whether or not it was meant to be gender-neutral, I'm picturing a male. Same with "she". Informally I might use "they", "their", "them", etc.

I think a gender-neutral pronoun would be pretty nifty. =D I don't really like the Spivak one; it seems forced to me, but I do like the Hu one that someone had a link to in the first page.
 
Music Dragon said:
In Swedish, the word "human" is, in certain contexts, a feminine word (although very few people actually care). So you could argue that "she" could refer to any human being, not necessarily a male!

... But, well, that's only in Sweden.
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In portuguese, "pessoa" (person) is a feminine word.
 
I use singular they or "he/she" or "he or she".

English is a overall horrible language, imo.
 
English doesn't just borrow from other languages, it follows them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and searches their pockets for spare grammar.
 
Music Dragon said:
What, lazy? How so? If you want lazy, you should try... oh, say... Chinese. No verb conjugations, and adjectives come with a built-in être? Yes, please!
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I never said I 'wanted' lazy.
I mainly meant lazy in the way it was invented.

Also, referring to practically everything that isn't alive as 'it' is very boring.
 
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