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Jesse Long <LongJR97@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Proper English uses a masculine pronoun when there is an unknown person
> involved, or requires the longer "he or she." If the unknown person
> involved must be a female, then the use of the female pronoun is correct.
> The politically correct, touchy-feely, kindler, gentler, "English for
> Dummies" that is evolving would allow the gender-neutral plural "they" as an
> acceptable substitute for a singular pronoun of unknown gender.
I used to hate this. But, after taking several years of German, I feel a lot
better. Why? I realized that German 'recycles' a lot of pronouns for various
uses. For example, "sie" is "she", "they", and the formal "you". So I
figure, why not allow "they" to be recycled in this way in English?
While I think in general "politically correct" language gets ridiculous
quickly, I can see the point in the case of using "he" when really not
intending to specify gender. And the phrase "he or she" is too clumsy for
common usuage -- and gets repetitive when used in writing.
A lot of PC doublespeak has the intention of obscuring meaning. I'm opposed
to that. Using 'they' as a gender-neutral singular pronoun, however, helps
one say what one means in a concise and natural manner.
--
Matthew Miller ---> mattdm@mattdm.org
Quotes 'R' Us ---> http://quotes-r-us.org/
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