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A single person demanding to be called "they" or "we" in order to "feel comfortable" makes me uncomfortable - so now what?

Mihos

Gold Member
I am old enough to remember when no one gave a crap if someone is offended.

You think they give a crap who they are offending?
 

lil puff

Member
It doesn't even make sense.

We?

"Where is Stacy?" "We are in the shower"

Occasionally, 'They' can make sense in certain Southern US dialect. But...

"Poor Doug, is in the Hospital" "Actually I spoke to the doctor. We said they died"
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Talk and say it also makes you uncomfortable and that your opinion also matters. Is understanding each other that hard? Everybody in the room will clap and you will get a 5 dollar Burger King certificate. Or you can always Identify as KOS-MOS yourself.
 

appaws

Banned
I'll go a step farther. I actually don't care about the stupid pronouns and I don't think you care about the grammar of it at all. I think your OP is just because you want to be like me and say "fuck that" to the whole gender ideology bullshit.
 

June

Member
I just call people what they want to be called, as long I feel they are being sincere about their preferences.

I don't care enough to make a stance against little things like this.
 
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H4ze

Member
I feel exactly like you OP. I have no problem with trans, gay, people of color or whatever, despite my jokes.
But if someone would tell me I have to call them "we", I would laughe at their face and they can fuck right off.

But I have to say, I never met a single person in my life, that wanted to be called something else than He or She, but maybe that's because I live in Germany and this gender-thing is not as big here as it is(?) in the USA.
 

Despera

Banned
So... When using the pronoun "Ze" which one of these sentences is correct?

"Ze did the thing zirself"
or is it "Ze did the thing hirself"

Offending people by mispronouning they asses is yesterday's problem. Today you can offend by simply using the wrong combination of pronouns.

Be careful out there.
 

Scotty W

Member
Singular they is a thing, and grammatically correct; has been for centuries in English and is getting more and more recognized.




I looked at all these links, and in all cases, the author has failed to cite an example that comes close to the 21st century usage.

From the Wikipedia link.

Older usage
Singular they is found in the writings of many respected authors. Here are some examples, arranged chronologically:

  • "Eche on in þer craft ys wijs." ("Each one in their craft is wise.") — Wycliffe's Bible, Ecclus. 38.35 (1382)[27]
  • "And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, They wol come up..." — Chaucer, "The Pardoner's Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400)[28] quoted by Jespersen and thence in Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English Usage.[29]
  • "Eche of theym sholde ... make theymselfe redy." — Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon (c. 1489)[30]
In the Wycliffe example, their means 'his or her' and refers to 'each one.' In Chaucer, they seems to refer to whoso, which I take to mean whoever. The Caxton is as my Grandmother would have spoken it.

The Miriam-Webster link has only this from Emily Dickinson: "Almost anyone under the circumstances would have doubted if [the letter] were theirs, or indeed if they were themself."

This is a bit of a stretch, but it would almost seem to agree with what you are driving at. Almost. I looked up the Emily Dickinson letter. Here is the Paragraph in question for context:

After infinite wanderings the little note has reached us. It was mailed the twelfth - we received it the twenty-third. The address "Misses Dickinson" misled the rustic eyes- the postmaster knows Vinnie, also by faith who Emily is, because his little girl was hurt, and Emily sent her some juleps - but he failed of the intellectual grasp to combine the names. So after sending it to all the Mrs. Dickinsons he could discover, he consigned it to us, with the request that we would speedily return it if not ours, that he might renew his research. Almost any one under the circumstances would have doubted if it were theirs, or indeed if they were themself - but to us it was clear. Next time, dears, direct Vinnie, or Emily, and perhaps Mr. [Jameson]'s astuteness may be adequate.

So theirs and themself seem here to be referring to multiple people, various Mrs. Dickinsons.

The OED article has only this:

The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf. Except for the old-style language of that poem, its use of singular they to refer to an unnamed person seems very modern. Here’s the Middle English version: ‘Hastely hiȝed eche . . . þei neyȝþed so neiȝh . . . þere william & his worþi lef were liand i-fere.’ In modern English, that’s: ‘Each man hurried . . . till they drew near . . . where William and his darling were lying together.’

Is 'each man' here singular or plural?
 

nkarafo

Member
I feel uncomfortable catering to narsissists. I learned one kind of grammar and vocabulary at school and i wont change the way i talk for someone who is so full of himself.

Fuck him.
 

Virex

Banned
This is all you need OP


bE7pTC8.png
 
F

Foamy

Unconfirmed Member
Call them THAT person or THE person.
It's not gender bias and its effectively passive aggressive enough to get your point across without saying anything that can get you in trouble.
 
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