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Singular they rule (pawb.social)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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ALT TEXT:

Panel 1: A person with the text "Singular 'they'" written on them smiling with open arms.
Panel 2: "Singular 'They'" beaten up by others who said, "Singular they is ungrammatical. It's too confusing," "How can anyone use plural pronouns for singular," and "Every pronoun should only have one purpose."
Panel 3: "You" hiding from the mob who was beating "Singular 'They'"
Panel 4: "German 'Sie'" hiding with even more fear next to "You"

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They is not just used to refer to singular people when they don't use he/she pronouns. It's literally been used as singular for hundreds of years.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.html

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I know, I'm speaking to the only potential use of a singular "they" actually being potentially "confusing", which I demonstrate is really minor. Supporting the point of the post and yours that there's no real serious issue anyone can have with the singular "they".