-7
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] kbal@fedia.io 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I don't really have a preference myself, but Richard Stallman's continued insistence that "per" is the right answer is the example that comes to mind.

As he puts it, "most languages have genderless singular third-person pronouns which are distinct from the plural pronouns. English deserves to have them too."

Perhaps in a hundred years, once the old way of making the distinction is long forgotten, a new one will arise.

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Always say "they". This violates the grammar of English so deeply that it feels terribly wrong. It also results frequently in confusing expressions in which the referent of "they" is unclear.

I totally disagree with this. Singular they has been in use since the 14th century or so. It's so deeply ingrained in the language that is perfectly simple to understand. In fact I'd say that people who claim to not understand it are doing so intentionally.

Perhaps a new word will develop naturally as you say. But personally I don't see a need for it.

[-] kbal@fedia.io 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Not all of the complaints are motivated just by deliberate obstinance. I'm old enough that it was genuinely confusing for me at first in some situations, but young enough that I got used to it after some years. There are still plenty of people out there who haven't done enough conversing with those who habitually default to "they" to get used to it. Not all of them are as old and cranky as Mr. Stallman.

this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
-7 points (47.4% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35868 readers
948 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS