Re: [PATCH 1/4] Documentation: use singular they when appropriate
From: Felipe Contreras <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-11 16:02:58
From: Felipe Contreras <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-11 16:02:58
Derrick Stolee wrote:
Singular "you" had a similar backlash in the 1660s as singular "they" is having in this thread, but singular "you" has lasted (and we use "thou" only to signify someone using old-timey language). There is more of this in [1] and [2] [1] https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/
Let's see... In modern English, that’s: ‘Each man hurried . . . till they drew near . . . where William and his darling were lying together.’ Yeah, that grammatical singular "they" indeed, but with a semantic plural antecedent, so no, that's not what you are proposing above. I'd say leave linguistics to linguists. -- Felipe Contreras