Re: Singular they [was Re: [Lit.] Buffer overruns]

From: Xcott Craver (caj_at_B-r-a-i-n-H-z.com)
Date: 01/22/05 

Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 00:39:56 GMT

Joe Peschel <jpeschel@no.spam.org> wrote:
>
> I'm not kidding. If Xcott knew what he was talking about, he wouldn't be
> asking such silly hypothetical questions.
 
      How the Hell can someone ask a hypothetical question? Surely it would
      cease to be hypothetical once I actually really asked it.
  
      Perhaps you mean a rhetorical question? But no, it was not
      rhetorical: I seriously want to know your argument for following
      these fellows' prescribed usage.
 
      There are many different reasons, after all: perhaps you feel that
      we are better off for adopting some standard, however arbitrary;
      perhaps you feel that singular "they" is bad for one's brain, leading
      to monstrosities like "Is our children learning?"
      
      Or, maybe your views are less pragmatic, and you seriously believe
      that the prescribed usage is truly _right_. If so, I want to hear
      a convincing argument why.
 
      For that matter, what's the earliest example of anyone declaring
      singular "they" improper? Is this a modern trend?

                                                         --X

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