• AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t think singular “they” is that common except among very young people, and does lead to confusion.

    As an example, my brother once showed me a picture of a person on a dating app and said “they are nice” and I thought he was talking about the person’s breasts…

    Also, “it” is dehumanising, I’d feel uncomfortable calling someone “it” even if they told me it was their preferred pronoun.

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Singular they has existed in English before the times of Shakespeare. It’s not a fad. It’s a bloody grammatical reality.

      • samus12345@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Singular they has also always been used when the person is unidentified. “Somebody left their umbrella here!” It’s when the person is identified that it feels awkward at first for us Gen Xers and older in particular.