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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Replacement for he/she
Message-ID: <984@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-Feb-84 15:58:20 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.984
Posted: Wed Feb 22 15:58:20 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Feb-84 05:48:27 EST
References: <141@iuvax.UUCP>
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
Lines: 29

Jeff Brennan (iuvax!brennan) defends the collapse of "he" and "she" to
"they" and its confusion of plural and singular by pointing out that
"you" already confuses them.  This is true, but I don't think that it's
a convincing defense -- many forms of English feel the need to make the
distinction and have invented forms with which to make it: "y'all",
"you guys", and the like.  Who wants to bet that if the trend to use
"they" to indicate third person singular continues, we will soon notice
the form "they all" filling the role of third person plural?

Personally, I think that our language will probably remain sexist in
its pronouns, and, if not, that the change will be an unplanned and
largely unconscious one (probably to "they").  But as long as we're
playing with linguistic utopias, here is my vote for the new pronoun
scheme (with apologies to Ray Holmes and Dave Decot):

	O->	he	him	his	his
	O-+	she	her	her	hers

	O==	se	sim	ser	sers

I think that these forms are close enough to the corresponding forms of
"he" and "she" that they wouldn't confuse anybody for long.  (So that
they will seem equally familiar whether written or spoken, they should
be pronounced like the old sexist pronouns: "ser" rhymes with "her",
not with "hair".)

--- Prentiss Riddle
--- ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle