D users in Munich, Rome, Venice, or Frankfurt?

BCS none at anon.com
Tue May 12 19:00:04 PDT 2009


Hello Robert,

> It's been suggested that singular they has been in use since 1400
> (around the beginning of "modern English"), and likely in old/middle
> English as well. It's only been in the last few hundred years when
> people started analyzing how people talk and tried to figure out why
> people were using "they" in singular contexts. Someone decided to make
> it a "rule", and millions of people have been trying to force that
> "rule", despite using singular they themselves.

I have more problems with singular they making it hard to exclude the plural 
than anything else. It's right up there with (but not as common as) some 
neutral statements being promoted to negative ones: "I don't like cheese" 
vs. "I dislike cheese", making it hard to state some things.





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