Timeline for Are there any objections to using singular they for everyone?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
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| Oct 9, 2019 at 7:48 | comment | added | Michael | @philipxy: For me, this has little to do with God. I just don't want to be forced to jump through other peoples hoops. Also, I know that there are plenty of people out there with "non-standard" sexual identities, who don't feel the particular urge to let everyone know that they are different. These people are not part of the public discussion because they don't start fights over pronouns, but they are the majority of the group. (I was simplifying a bit..) - Treating the whole pronoun-issue as a settled case that must not be debated is deeply unfair (SE does that), and it doesn't help anyone. | |
| Oct 9, 2019 at 5:45 | comment | added | philipxy | Referring to people in the 3rd person by mentioning thier sex, gender, or anything else is a linguistic convention independent of God having made n sexes, or genders, or anything else. Or maybe you think God made that a rule of grammar that you must follow? A Person Paper on Purity in Language | |
| Oct 5, 2019 at 22:16 | history | edited | This_is_NOT_a_forum | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Active reading [<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/accomodate#Verb>]. Expanded.
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| Oct 5, 2019 at 5:21 | comment | added | ChrisW |
my first reaction is always that this is a 3rd person plural pronoun I think of "you" versus "thou" (literary and religious), and of "vous" versus "tu" in French (colloquially) -- these are used not only for singular versus plural but also be "polite/formal" in the plural versus "familiar/intimate" in the singular. So to me it's just a convention and normal formal politeness -- though I too avoid it in case it's misunderstood. According to this answer I both deliberately escape/avoid using it, and prefer using it, depending on the situation.
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| Oct 4, 2019 at 19:57 | comment | added | Michael | @ChrisW: I understand your point. I certainly wouldn't feel offended if someone uses "they" to address me. (Although my first reaction is always that this is a 3rd person plural pronoun, and I can imagine that this may cause misunderstandings.) I just think it should be possible that people who like to be addressed with "they" and people who don't want to use that pronoun can coexist. Saying that one point of view is legitimate and the other is not just seems arbitrary to me. (And I think SE did that with their actions.) | |
| Oct 4, 2019 at 19:36 | comment | added | ChrisW | i am a religion mod just by the way, and even read a little about radical feminism (so i've read that this kind of controversial in some circles). but, at the risk of showing my privilege, i'd like to think "we're all just folk now". | |
| Oct 4, 2019 at 19:32 | comment | added | ChrisW | i see. my point was that being careful about pronouns isn't only for the sake of being polite/inclusive to LBGT people but equally for all women and men -- i.e. perhaps it's how we should/might speak anyway, about anyone whose gender we don't know -- it isn't only about (you said) "LGBT being so special and deserving special treatment". | |
| Oct 4, 2019 at 19:17 | comment | added | Michael | @ChrisW: Hosting sites for religious people and then harassing them about pronoun usage.. thats hypocritical and insensitive. This is what I was referring to. (2/2) | |
| Oct 4, 2019 at 19:16 | comment | added | Michael | @ChrisW: I asked because they are special to SE. If you know anything at all about religion, you know that among christians and jews it is common to think that there are two genders and that you get your identity from God, and not from your free will. Although I'm not a religious person, I have talked to many religious people, and they don't seem hateful when they explain their reasoning. Monica Cellio was a moderator on a site about the jewish religion, and Caleb was a moderator from a site about christianity. (1/2) | |
| Oct 4, 2019 at 18:15 | comment | added | ChrisW |
What is so special about trans and LGBT+ people that they deserve special treatment as a minority? Doesn't one use "they" to refer to anyone who might be man or woman, even regardless of whether they may be LGBT -- i.e. it isn't only to be polite to people who identify as LGBT, it's also to be polite to anyone who identifies as man or woman?
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| Oct 4, 2019 at 14:50 | history | answered | Michael | CC BY-SA 4.0 |