# Pronoun genders?



## Sunny (Apr 19, 2021)

Back in my youth, the only correct generic pronoun to use to show possession by one person was "his."  Somewhere along the way, it became his/her.  Now it appears to be "their,"  even when referring to only one person. "Every person is interested only in their own problems."

But it's going further than that now. I've seen sentences like "His daughter used to live in Boston, but they have moved out west."  This is used even if the daughter is living alone, and only she has moved out west. 

I think we are morphing into a language in which gender is irrelevant, and preferably not used at all.


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## tbeltrans (Apr 19, 2021)

Sunny said:


> Back in my youth, the only correct generic pronoun to use to show possession by one person was "his."  Somewhere along the way, it became his/her.  Now it appears to be "their,"  even when referring to only one person. "Every person is interested only in their own problems."
> 
> But it's going further than that now. I've seen sentences like "His daughter used to live in Boston, but they have moved out west."  This is used even if the daughter is living alone, and only she has moved out west.
> 
> I think we are morphing into a language in which gender is irrelevant, and preferably not used at all.


Using "they" to refer to one person, especially after referring in the singular elsewhere in the sentence, just feels wrong to me.  I understand that these days, the idea of only two genders, seems to be a thing of the past.  We need a new word, or set of words, to refer to whatever genders have come into being/recognition.  So far, that hasn't happened.  I still use s/he or the traditional "she" and "he", but then that is one of the perks of being older.  I don't have to "go with the flow" on the latest fads.   

Tony


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## jujube (Apr 19, 2021)

I can hear Mrs. Jay, my 9th-grade English teacher, spinning in her grave.  The prospect of any of her students using "they" instead of "him" or "her" would have her coming back from the dead, ruler in hand...…..


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## OneHalf (Apr 19, 2021)

Follow the science:
Gender - the physical condition of being male OR female

everything else is a pipe dream. you either are 1 or the other except in a very few rare cases where people have both sets of organs.


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## Irwin (Apr 19, 2021)

tbeltrans said:


> Using "they" to refer to one person, especially after referring in the singular elsewhere in the sentence, just feels wrong to me.  I understand that these days, the idea of only two genders, seems to be a thing of the past.  We need a new word, or set of words, to refer to whatever genders have come into being/recognition.  So far, that hasn't happened.  I still use s/he or the traditional "she" and "he", but then that is one of the perks of being older.  I don't have to "go with the flow" on the latest fads.
> 
> Tony


That's true. Instead of all the bitching and moaning, they should come up with new gender neutral pronouns for individuals. They only need two: one for _he/she_ and one for _her/his_. Using a plural pronoun for an individual just sounds wrong.


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## horseless carriage (Apr 19, 2021)

Irwin said:


> That's true. Instead of all the bitching and moaning, they should come up with new gender neutral pronouns for individuals. They only need two: one for _he/she_ and one for _her/his_. Using a plural pronoun for an individual just sounds wrong.


OneHalf nailed it. Apart from hermaphrodites we are either male or female. What's wrong with he, she, her or him?


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## tbeltrans (Apr 19, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> OneHalf nailed it. Apart from hermaphrodites we are either male or female. What's wrong with he, she, her or him?


It isn't politically correct, and unfortunately, that seems to rule the day.  This type of discussion has come up around here a time or two and I had been informed in such discussion that genders between male and female have been identified.  I will continue to use "he" and "she" and just let others use "they" as they certainly will.

Tony


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## Glowworm (Apr 20, 2021)

Irwin said:


> That's true. Instead of all the bitching and moaning, they should come up with new gender neutral pronouns for individuals. They only need two: one for _he/she_ and one for _her/his_. Using a plural pronoun for an individual just sounds wrong.


In Swedish he is han and she is hon. We now also have a gender neutral pronoun hen.


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## ohioboy (Apr 20, 2021)

Sunny said:


> Back in my youth, the only correct generic pronoun to use to show possession by one person was "his."  Somewhere along the way, it became his/her.  Now it appears to be "their,"  even when referring to only one person. "Every person is interested only in their own problems."
> 
> But it's going further than that now. I've seen sentences like "His daughter used to live in Boston, but they have moved out west."  This is used even if the daughter is living alone, and only she has moved out west.
> 
> I think we are morphing into a language in which gender is irrelevant, and preferably not used at all.



When they call oceanic storms HER icanes, they nailed it, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," HA.


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## Sunny (Apr 20, 2021)

Well, I guess "it" is a gender-neutral pronoun, but I doubt that too many people would want to be referred to that way either.


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## Chet (Apr 20, 2021)

I've noticed that "guys" is being used more when referring to several people; gender not withstanding.


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## jujube (Apr 20, 2021)

Off topic here, but years ago I read about a woman who was suing the city works department.  She had just left the courthouse, where she had changed her last name from Zimmerman to Zimmerwoman.  When she reached the sidewalk, she fell into an open "personhole".   I kid you not....that's what the newspaper reported.


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## Alligatorob (Apr 20, 2021)

Languages change, and this might be the beginning of a change in ours, but maybe not.  

A few years back I was working for a large engineering company, and some politically correct person decided to change the term "manhole" to "humanhole" in their CAD systems.  So for a few days a lot of drawings with the embarrassing term "humanhole" appeared.  It got fixed back to manhole pretty quickly.  Now I wonder what they call them now...  All seems a bit silly to me, y'all!


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## Jeweltea (Apr 20, 2021)

I used to work at the National Science Foundation. I worked in Engineering. One of our programs was called Strategic Manufacturing, but we called it "StratMan" internally.  There was a complaint that this was sexist so we had to stop. Same thing with Technical Manufacturing that we called "TechMan".


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## ohioboy (Apr 20, 2021)

And here I thought F.B.I. stood for Female Body Inspector?


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