The Washington Post Style Guide Now Accepts Singular ‘They’

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Maxinquaye

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http://mentalfloss.com/article/72262/washington-post-style-guide-now-accepts-singular-they
What do you do when you run into your friend on their birthday? You wish them a happy birthday, of course!


Or wait—you wish … him or her a happy birthday? When you run into your friend on … his or her birthday? That's how you’re supposed to say it if you want to avoid using they to refer to one person, but it’s a bit wordy and awkward. You could use just him or her alone, but what if you don’t want to be specific about the sex of the referent? You could make it plural—“what do you do when you run into friends on their birthdays”—but that sounds a bit strange, like there’s a whole group of friends having their birthdays at once. Anyone who writes for a living runs into this situation all the time, and must go through all kinds of contortions to avoid the easiest solution: singular they.

I am honestly surprised that it has taken this long. Singular 'They' have been an elegant and efficient part of the English language for hundreds, if not almost a thousand years.

One can compare it with 'you' - which is perfectly okay to use in both singular and plural. Singular 'they' just avoids a lot of awkward writing.
 

jjdebenedictis

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Hurrah! I've always viewed 'they' as an elegant way to avoid both convoluted phrasing and the distastefulness of erasing women by referring to hypothetical people as 'him' by default.
 

ironmikezero

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I find this a bit sad. Persistent and pervasive misuse of grammar tends to enjoy a general sense of winking acceptance. But then again, that's how language evolves. To be honest, I'm as guilty as anyone. While I've used they in singular intention in dialogue, it still offends my sense of grammatical propriety and I otherwise would avoid it in prose--anyone's style guide notwithstanding. It's conceivably a matter of one's education, experience, and no doubt personal taste . . . and let's face it--us older curmudgeons just don't like change. :Shrug:
 

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At least one dictionary I've seen actually recognizes "literally" as synonym for "figuratively". It's now okay to say "he literally went through hell."
 

jjdebenedictis

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Singular 'They' have been an elegant and efficient part of the English language for hundreds, if not almost a thousand years.

[L]et's face it--us older curmudgeons just don't like change. :Shrug:
If you're over a thousand years in age, then "older" is quite the euphemism!

But I am very impressed with how well you've taken to using the internet, as a millenarian. :D
 

Kylabelle

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I'm glad the singular "they" is coming into legitimacy. We needed that. This "he/she" stuff was getting old.

*embraces change when it's useful*
 

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The Washington Post Style Guide Now Accepts Singular 'They'

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Haggis

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I find this a bit sad. Persistent and pervasive misuse of grammar tends to enjoy a general sense of winking acceptance. But then again, that's how language evolves. To be honest, I'm as guilty as anyone. While I've used they in singular intention in dialogue, it still offends my sense of grammatical propriety and I otherwise would avoid it in prose--anyone's style guide notwithstanding. It's conceivably a matter of one's education, experience, and no doubt personal taste . . . and let's face it--us older curmudgeons just don't like change. :Shrug:

This.

I'm sorry. I'm an old fart. I had it pounded into my head when I was a youngster. Miss (not Ms. there was no such thing as Ms. then) Webster is probably rolling in her grave. If you haven't figured it out, she was my 7th grade English teacher. It grates like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. Like "We should have went there." Or like "I see that alot." Or like "I graduated high school," rather than "I graduated from high school." Yes. I know. I'm an artifact. And, yes, I know language evolves. But at my age I'm done evolving. I get and appreciate the reason for it and avoid using "he" as an all encompassing pronoun, but I try to work around the rest of it using different words.
 

DragonHeart

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I use singular they a lot, it did seem weird at first but it's second nature now. I use it mostly from spending time online, especially in games. Sometimes you're just not sure how else to refer to someone and I thought it a nice solution to the problem. Glad to see I'm not the only one.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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I am so glad those phoney rules invented to crush certain longstanding English language usages are falling.

Doesn't matter how vehement the rules lawyers were. They made them up.

"His or her" was always kind of awkward anyhow.
 

andiwrite

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Not a huge fan of this. I much prefer "he or she," although it depends on the context. I often find myself in situations where I have to find another way to say something to avoid too many confusing "he or she" moments, but I can almost always do it without resorting to the singular "they." I'm fine with it being accepted; it just looks weird to me.
 

jjdebenedictis

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I was always partial to s/h/it because I am nothing if not puerile and juvenile. :D
 

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At least one dictionary I've seen actually recognizes "literally" as synonym for "figuratively". It's now okay to say "he literally went through hell."

That's lousy. I literally hate that.


But using "they" this way is useful. I wish our language was cleverer and had an appropriate pronoun for non-gendered, singular.
 
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rugcat

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But using "they" is this way is useful. I wish our language was cleverer and had an appropriate pronoun for non-gendered, singular.
A non-gendered singular pronoun would be nice. But lacking that, and acknowledging that pretty much everyone uses "they" in that fashion, at least in oral usage, I think it's a terrific idea to make it sort of official.

It's about time, say I.
 

Maythe

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I'm not keen on the 'literally' usage but I think anyone stating it means figuratively in the 'I literally died of embarrassment' situation is mistaken (not that I'm saying it is never a synonym for figuratively). It's an intensifier just like totally or really are when they are used in the same context. Use of metaphors like that in our every day speech is common and is one of the awesome things about language. 'Literally' used in this way does grate a bit but that's because it's a change in use and change is always pretty crunchy and uncomfortable.
 

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If singular "they" was good enough for the likes of Chaucer and Shakespeare, then it's good enough for me.

I'm surprised by the things people worry about with word usages sometimes. Literally has been used to mean figuratively since I was a kid, which was literally eons ago ;) I always assumed that "literally" was a reference to "literature," because something that happens in literature is often exaggerated for effect.

And I was thinking about the kerfuffle over "decimate" in another thread, which means to obliterate or nearly wipe out in modern lexicon. I was preparing a lecture the other day, and the course's biology text says that DDT decimated raptor populations, and I'm pretty sure they didn't mean it killed just one in ten ;)
 
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maxmordon

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We have. I'm partial to spivak pronouns but they're not so popular.

I actually would prefer this being used for those wanting to make Latino/Latina gender-neutral instead of the cumbersome "Latinx" I've seen around lately. "Latine" feels more natural, instinctive and -e already has a history of gender neutrality in Spanish.
 

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Great! Now even bad writers can have a career. So can talented writers who are simply too lazy to rewrite a bad sentence.
 

Cramp

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This is one of those things where it blows my mind that this bothers people.

Hasn't "they" always been used in the singular?

"I finally went to the doctor about my pain today."

"Oh! What did they say?"

That looks to me to be an entirely everyday use of English.
 
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