this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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ALT TEXT:

  • Panel 1: A person with the text "Singular 'they'" written on them smiling with open arms.
  • Panel 2: "Singular 'They'" beaten up by others who said, "Singular they is ungrammatical. It's too confusing," "How can anyone use plural pronouns for singular," and "Every pronoun should only have one purpose."
  • Panel 3: "You" hiding from the mob who was beating "Singular 'They'"
  • Panel 4: "German 'Sie'" hiding with even more fear next to "You"
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[–] Pengui@feddit.nl 5 points 1 year ago (9 children)

What even is "singular they"?? First time hearing of this. Is it some pseudo gender thing promoted by the lgbtqia+ communities?

[–] RiceChex@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Maybe they didnt see your comment? Try asking them again.

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[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Isn't "You" always singular? The words it's accompanied by make the overall statement plural. Like "you guys" or "you all". My brain might be slow this morning, but I can't think of any instance where it's plural without an accompanying word.

[–] Velociraptor@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I find this kinda fascinating because if you've thought this your entire life, you would have had to have read every intended plural "you" as singular and there would be nothing to inform you otherwise without very explicit context.

For the record, every 2nd person pronoun in the preceding paragraph can be singular or plural and still be grammatically correct while remaining socially correct for my speaking to an audience of unknown size. "You all" and "you guys" are slang phrases that don't appear in formal writing.

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[–] Limonene@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What is the singular reflexive form of "they"? "Themselves" sounds too plural. "Themself" is inventing a new word, which is not problematic, but if we're going to invent new words we may as well start using "ve" or "ze" as gender neutral pronouns.

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

In portuguese, nearly everything has a gender. Você (You) is one of the few exceptions, but for "they" we have either eles (male) or elas (female), which will depend on what is being referred to. IE: they, the athletes = eles, os atletas (male), OR elas, as atletas (female).

Another example: the group = o grupo; it (the group) = ele (o grupo). Doesn't matter what makes the group, "the group" is "male".

[–] match@pawb.social 2 points 1 year ago

laughs in 1st person plural exclusive

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