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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
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> 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