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From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny)
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.women
Subject: Re: Gender-specific responses to s/he (their)
Message-ID: <299@scc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 6-Jan-85 12:34:38 EST
Article-I.D.: scc.299
Posted: Sun Jan  6 12:34:38 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 9-Jan-85 05:26:44 EST
References: <218@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA>
Organization: Personetics, Inc. - Santa Cruz, Calif.
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Xref: watmath net.nlang:2349 net.women:4004

>
> >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.
> 
> No, no, no!  Please!  *cringe*
> 
> On a more rational note... I think there are a lot of people out there who
> have the same reaction to "their" that I do; I do a double-take because I
> had thought the author was referring to a single person, and I sometimes will
> look back to see if I've missed something.  

	You do?  Maybe if it is written down.  People use 
"their" as a third person singualar indefinate pronoun in speech.
It is like that old Latin rule about having the cases agree
across a copular verb, "It is I" instead of "It's me."  It is
a rule from books for people that like to follow rules and
has never been a rule of English.  No one would ever say:

	Someone came early, didn't he or she?

	A person has many choices, doesn't he or she.

	In spoken English (English) we use "their", "they",
and "them" if the word is referring to a third person
singular *indefinate*.  It sounds too specific to say
"he", and even if there were to be a special word "he"
that signified a sexless indefinate individual,
"he or she" or "he and she" do not have the same interpretation.
If someone uses the construction "someone  ... he or she",
it makes me think I missed something, the specific person that
is being referred to.  

	I had a professor who insisted that it was wrong and
confusing to use "their" as an third singular pronoun, yet
he used it himself in his speech.  He was a linguistics
professor and sould have known better.  

	People have a variety of different strategies for reading,
and that probably explains why it confuses people when it is
written down and not when it is spoken.
-- 
scc!steiny
Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382
109 Torrey Pine Terr.
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060
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