Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:31 pm
#1832871
I find myself irked by the absence of a common genderless singular pronoun in English. (S)he ... works OK, but the use of "They" and "Their" in a singular case is to my ears incredibly ugly.
"Each to their own" is just wrong. "Each to one's own" is better but sounds pedantic. Back when I were a lad "His" was deemed to include both sexes so "Each to his own" was assumed to include the female of the species and all was well.
When Bronowski developed "The Ascent of Man" nobody thought that half of humanity was excluded yet now it would have to be called "The Ascent of Humankind" - and doubtless even that would be deemed to cause offence in some parts where Hupersonkind might be seen to be preferable.
Frankly I think correction is being attempted in the wrong place. Expunging "Man" and maleness in all situations is just unhelpful. What we need is a replacement for when any sense of gender is undesirable. Roll on Chairwan, Milkwan, and the like. Mind you, we'd probably have to look particularly carefully at mankind!
"Each to their own" is just wrong. "Each to one's own" is better but sounds pedantic. Back when I were a lad "His" was deemed to include both sexes so "Each to his own" was assumed to include the female of the species and all was well.
When Bronowski developed "The Ascent of Man" nobody thought that half of humanity was excluded yet now it would have to be called "The Ascent of Humankind" - and doubtless even that would be deemed to cause offence in some parts where Hupersonkind might be seen to be preferable.
Frankly I think correction is being attempted in the wrong place. Expunging "Man" and maleness in all situations is just unhelpful. What we need is a replacement for when any sense of gender is undesirable. Roll on Chairwan, Milkwan, and the like. Mind you, we'd probably have to look particularly carefully at mankind!
kanga liked this