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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[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They is not just used to refer to singular people when they don't use he/she pronouns. It's literally been used as singular for hundreds of years.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002748.html