Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxv!pyuxt!marcus From: marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: "Their" as a substitute for his/her Message-ID: <237@pyuxt.UUCP> Date: Wed, 9-Jan-85 14:54:51 EST Article-I.D.: pyuxt.237 Posted: Wed Jan 9 14:54:51 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 11-Jan-85 23:19:23 EST References: <19800@arizona.UUCP> Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J. Lines: 10 Consider such languages as french where the 2nd person singular pronouns are considered far too personal for all but the closest of friends and familiars. One uses "vous" almost exclusively in preference to "tu". While not strictly comparable to the he/she problem, it does indicate that English is not alone in using plurals to refer to singular entities in regular written and spoken language. -- Marcus Hand {ihnp4!}pyuxt!marcus