| From: | Mark Dilger <hornschnorter(at)gmail(dot)com> |
|---|---|
| To: | Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> |
| Cc: | Geoff Winkless <pgsqladmin(at)geoff(dot)dj>, Gavin Flower <GavinFlower(at)archidevsys(dot)co(dot)nz>, Albe Laurenz <laurenz(dot)albe(at)wien(dot)gv(dot)at>, Peter Geoghegan *EXTERN* <pg(at)heroku(dot)com>, Erik Rijkers <er(at)xs4all(dot)nl>, Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net>, pgsql-committers <pgsql-committers(at)postgresql(dot)org>, "pgsql-committers-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org" <pgsql-committers-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org>, Pg Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org> |
| Subject: | Re: [HACKERS] pgsql: Use gender-neutral language in documentation |
| Date: | 2015-09-22 17:43:46 |
| Message-ID: | 44B71D14-ACEB-469F-A352-98353116CCBA@gmail.com |
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| Lists: | pgsql-committers pgsql-hackers |
> On Sep 22, 2015, at 6:09 AM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
>
> You are fighting a losing battle. Think of they/them/their/theirs as being indefinitely gendered third person singular pronouns, as well as being third person plural pronouns. Yes it's a relatively new usage, but I don't think its at all unreasonable (speaking as someone who has been known to dislike some new usages and neologisms). It's not at all sloppy. On the contrary, it's quite deliberate. It's just not quite traditional. You need to get over that.
The use of "their" as singular dates back at least as far as Chaucer in the 14th century, prior to
the use of "you" as a singular pronoun. Militant grammarian schoolteachers may have told you
not to use it that way, but that doesn't change the history of its use.
Mark Dilger
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