Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site amdahl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxj!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amdcad!amdahl!gam From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (gam) Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.women Subject: Re: Gender-Specific Pronouns (and "ain't") Message-ID: <914@amdahl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 10-Jan-85 02:07:00 EST Article-I.D.: amdahl.914 Posted: Thu Jan 10 02:07:00 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 05:45:48 EST References: <353@cadovax.UUCP> Organization: Blue Mouse Trailer Resort, Hellmouth, CA Lines: 39 Xref: watmath net.nlang:2370 net.women:4037 > From sunny@sun.uucp (Sunny Kirsten) <1914@sun.uucp> > > > Try using "their" whether referring to one generic person or many persons: > > it's easier to read than he/she or his/her, and is gender non-specific. > > Sunny > > It's also grammatically incorrect and awkward. To me, it's as bad as > using "Aren't I?" instead of "Am I not?" It is NOT "grammatically incorrect." That is a myth. As someone mentioned earlier, you can look it ("they") up in the OED. William Safire wrote an interesting essay on the grammatical appropriatness of "Ain't I?" (it came from a contraction of "Am not I?", necessarily interrogative). But "ain't" is such a tainted word these days we will probably never bring it back. (Unfortunately I don't have this particular article of Safire's). The story with "ain't" was that people were using ungrammatically ("ain't she sweet?") so our fearless defenders of the language, English teachers everywhere, eradicated its use by implying it was "grammatically incorrect", even when used correctly as "ain't I?". The same fate might've become of "they" used with singular nouns if Jim Quinn hadn't rallied to it's cause and enlightened people of its HISTORIC use instead of letting self-appointed "defenders of the language" eradicate yet another useful word from our speech. At some point you have to realize that grammar was a set of rules that someone came up with by EXAMINING HOW THE LANGUAGE IS USED, not by some abstract set of BNF charts that were logically consistent. Grammar is not logically consistent. I actually use "Aren't I?". I only use "Am I not?" when I want to sound pompous. -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam