undefined | Better HN

0 pointsfckthisguy5y ago0 comments

You can just say "they".

(Not trying to be judgy. People just seem to forget about the gender neutral use of "they".)

0 comments

I'm not a native speaker but the problem I have with it is that it has the wrong numerus. Although I have done so in papers recently, because it seems to be a trend, sentences like "If a person chose option B, they were categorized as a cautious assessor" seem ungrammatical to me. (In this case it's easy to reformulate the sentence in plural and simpler, but that's not always the case and I hope you get the point.)

frosted-flakes5y ago

If the person is hypothetical or not fleshed-out and without a gender, like your example, they is fine and I don't even notice. But if the person is known, the use of they catches me off guard every time. I recently read a book by Brandon Sanderson that had aliens on another planet with a different gender system, so Sanderson just used they to refer to those aliens even though the characters were obviously either feminine or masculine. It completely broke the illusion of the story and was a complete turn-off. I always notice in such cases, but for some reason some people say it's totally standard English.

mattmanser5y ago

Ann Leckie has written a great sci-fi series, Ancillary Justice/Ancillary Sword/Ancillary Mercy, where the main character assumes everyone is a she and keeps referring to them as that all the way through (though it becomes fairly obvious to the reader which are hes and shes).

I found it actually fairly annoying at first, but quickly got over it because it is related to the plot. Same for Sanderson, I've read all his books and am not even sure now which one you're talking about!

Sometimes we need a nudge to notice the unconscious bias around us, and it's often uncomfortable.

1 more reply

e12e5y ago

> > the problem I have with it is that it has the wrong numerus.

Not really: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbi...

unanswered5y ago

Why is it acceptable to use the wrong pronoun, such as "they", for someone who chooses the pronoun "she" or "he"?

randomchars5y ago

> used to refer to a person of unspecified gender.

How is this offensive to anyone??

unanswered5y ago

For the same reason referring to anyone with the wrong pronouns is, I would assume. Isn't that offensive? I didn't realize this was up for debate in 2021.

1 more reply

detaro5y ago

They are not talking about a specific person, so how is "they" wrong?

buzzerbetrayed5y ago

There are like 500 other ways you could have said what you just said as well. Doesn’t mean the way you said it is invalid.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

jonathanstrange5y ago

frosted-flakes5y ago

mattmanser5y ago

Sometimes we need a nudge to notice the unconscious bias around us, and it's often uncomfortable.

1 more reply

e12e5y ago

> > the problem I have with it is that it has the wrong numerus.

Not really: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/singular-nonbi...

unanswered5y ago

Why is it acceptable to use the wrong pronoun, such as "they", for someone who chooses the pronoun "she" or "he"?

randomchars5y ago

> used to refer to a person of unspecified gender.

How is this offensive to anyone??

unanswered5y ago

For the same reason referring to anyone with the wrong pronouns is, I would assume. Isn't that offensive? I didn't realize this was up for debate in 2021.

1 more reply

detaro5y ago

They are not talking about a specific person, so how is "they" wrong?

buzzerbetrayed5y ago

There are like 500 other ways you could have said what you just said as well. Doesn’t mean the way you said it is invalid.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse