It used to be proper English to say:

When a customer comes into the store, he should find everything clean.

Now, with our gender-inclusive, feminist modern world we say:

When a customer comes into the store, he or she should find everything clean.

And many use "they" to keep things neutral:

When a customer comes into the store, they should find everything clean.

How does this fly in languages where objects have gender like French and Spanish?

How does this fly in languages where objects have gender like French and Spanish?

In Spanish, ellos is "they" (men) or "they" (mixed group).

Using the plural pronoun to refer to a singular antecedent is not really a modern novelty.  It has been acceptable in English for centuries:

"And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up . . ."  —Chaucer, The Pardoner's Prologue (c. 1395)

" 'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, since nature makes them partial, should o'er hear the speech."  — Shakespeare, Hamlet (1599)

"If a person is born of a . . . gloomy temper . . . they cannot help it."  — Chesterfield, Letter to his son (1759)


The "rule" that the use of "he" is to be used as the only acceptable pronoun for a singular antecedent began to be established in the 19th Century in much the same way as the "rule" that one cannot use a preposition to end a sentence with [sic].  English speakers are merely reverting, unknowingly, to the way the English language originally developed.  

The "he/she" construction, however, is crap established by the politically correct crowd.

The only thing worse than "he/she" is "s/he."

I like s/he because it is 2 less key strokes, and when you do a lot of typing those key strokes add up, why don't you like it? As far as usage goes I've always thought of them as comparable.  Six of one, half dozen of the other, both a bother.

Marsha

In formal writings I usually see "he" still used.  In casual writings he/she or s/he is what I have noticed.  Truth be told it is a non-issue for me unless "they" is used with a singular noun.

When a customer comes into the store they should find everything clean.

s/b

When customers come into the store they should find everything clean.

Marsha

Right there with you.

Quote from: Judas Machabeus

This is a pet peeve of mine. I prefer the generic "he."

Thanks a lot for breaking the needle on my irony detector.

I thought your needle broke and spun backwards when s/he told IF to stop acting gαy.