I haven't read the book, but I had to pipe in to add: I like the singular they. It was correct original usage anyhow, before stuffy 19th century grammarians tried (and succeeded, at least in academia) to stamp it out. "They" has always been singular, that's why it feels so natural, and why I suspect so many people fall into it unless they've had it drilled out of their heads.
Besides, I get the impression that's the way it's going to go. My English professor in college, when asked about the singular they, simply shrugged and told us it was fine to use - that the rule had been dead for years in common use, that language does and ought to change, and that singular they neatly dodges all of the politics of the "his/her/zir" debate. My English teacher in grade school had insisted that it was horrendously lowbrow and that we should never ever use it, of course, but she was a dinosaur. This guy had his PhD. I know who I'm going to believe. (Said English teacher was also a feminist who insisted that one use the gender of the writer, so I infuriated her by always using "he" - it's the "original" and "proper" way, after all ;p).
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Date: 2012-02-05 02:35 am (UTC)Besides, I get the impression that's the way it's going to go. My English professor in college, when asked about the singular they, simply shrugged and told us it was fine to use - that the rule had been dead for years in common use, that language does and ought to change, and that singular they neatly dodges all of the politics of the "his/her/zir" debate. My English teacher in grade school had insisted that it was horrendously lowbrow and that we should never ever use it, of course, but she was a dinosaur. This guy had his PhD. I know who I'm going to believe. (Said English teacher was also a feminist who insisted that one use the gender of the writer, so I infuriated her by always using "he" - it's the "original" and "proper" way, after all ;p).