Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: Matthew on August 09, 2014, 04:08:53 PM
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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.
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This is a pet peeve of mine. I prefer the generic "he."
I think economy in language usage is almost always the best course.
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How does this fly in languages where objects have gender like French and Spanish?
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I know. Unfortunately, some are so ignorant that the only way to communicate with them is to speak in such terms.
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How does this fly in languages where objects have gender like French and Spanish?
In Spanish, ellos is "they" (men) or "they" (mixed group).
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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
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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.
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The only thing worse than "he/she" is "s/he."
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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
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This is a pet peeve of mine. I prefer the generic "he."
Thanks a lot for breaking the needle on my irony detector.
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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.
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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
Actually, I find that it is used in things that are deliberately PC, like parenting articles that denounce "gender roles." That is why it grates my nerves.
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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.