Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Just to highlight - as per the link that I had posted earlier - use of they (etc.) is not only current practice but has a very long history of such use. You cannot disregard this practice as a new or transient whim. |
No one intends to "disregard this practice as a new or transient whim" any more than I've dismissed the use of
thou as the side-effect of a Tickle Me Elmo commercial. (I don't mean to sound edgy about your comment, BTW -- I'm just trying to have fun. I
think I'm the only one to have played with third-person neologisms so far. Where are Anthony Burgess and Tolkien when you need them?)
The singular use of
they has been around since the Middle Ages, but my specific mention of current practice refers to its use as the
preferred and even overriding form for third-person pronouns --
i.e., to the utter exclusion of
she and
he in every instance not referring to a specific person or sex. You won't find that in Shakespeare, Chaucer or Sir Philip Sidney.