Nearly every time I write a paper, I struggle with the he/she/they issue. Do I write he or she? She or he? They? For obvious reasons, I'm not going to let "he" describe a possible she, so what's a girl to do?
Until I stumbled across an article by jjoan ttaber altieri, I never knew that English does not have a gender-free third-person singular pronoun to use to refer to people. So, "grammatically correct" writers adhere to "he" or reformist "he or she," while speakers use "they." altieri writes:
The majority of speakers of English prefer singular they, and many writers consciously or subconsciously use the term. Generic he is becoming increasingly old-fashioned, and constructions such as he or she or s/he often prove unwieldy, especially in speech. We're left with two choices: import or create a brand new epicene pronoun or legitimize the one native speakers of English have been using for over 1,000 years — singular they.
Although it sounds overly bookish, I always try to use "one" ... otherwise, I try to use names, or to identify the agents, or pluralize. Instead of saying "S/he shouldn't kick the dog," I'd say "Postal Workers shouldn't kick dogs." Or "One shouldn't kick dogs, should one?" Or "Julie shouldn't kick the dog." I know there are times when none of the above come into play and I empathize with your struggle against sexist language. It takes creative writing.
Posted by: Mike Arnzen at October 6, 2003 12:18 PMI try to use "one" as well, but it comes with the risk of sounding so dry and unapproachable. While working in the writing center and reading grammar books and theories, I've learned that the singular "they" is becoming more acceptable in writing. Still, I can't buy it, and I'm completely in favor of creating a new pronoun. Any suggestions? I'm thinking "Shim" could be an interesting possibility.
Posted by: Kate Cielinski at October 6, 2003 01:45 PMHmmm... in watching videos with my kids, I am reminded how Sesame Street's Elmo solves the problem. "Elmo never uses a pronoun at all, especially when Elmo refers to Elmos's self. Elmo's friends could learn a lot from Elmo." Muppet smiley 8o)
But how about we start a new trend... how about we just follow the example of Gollum, everyone's favorite demon-twisted beast from The Lord of the Rings trilogy? "My precioussss wouldn't want to offend my precioussss's readers when my preciousssss is groping for the appropriate pronoun. What does my precioussss think of that?" The quadruple s (denoting spittle and face-twitches) would differentiate the "gollumptive pronoun" from ordinary usage of "precious." Twisted and demonic smiley to denote Gollum's torment ;}
Okay, okay... I probably do have some work to do now.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at October 6, 2003 02:00 PMoh my gosh, that is SO funny... Dr. Jerz, you totally cracked me up with the Gollum "precioussss" thing. (I read that for Honors English in 10th grade, and I remember Gollum was my favorite character!)
That's hilarious. And Kate's suggestion of "shim" is great. I struggle with "they" and "he/she" and "one" all of the time. I get irritated when I proofread a paper for someone that uses "you" in a formal paper. AHH! I learned that in like, middle school... why is that so hard to remember?!
(sorry, me venting.)anyway, thanks for the laughs. That was wonderful. :)
Posted by: KarissaKilgore at October 9, 2003 07:25 PM