male/female: what about the "other" box?

Page 2 of 2 [ 20 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2

Mysty
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,762

19 Jul 2009, 5:53 pm

The problem with "other" is it doesn't tell us which pronouns to use. The only times I ever look at someone's gender are those rare times when I need to know if they are a he/his/him or a she/her. Other doesn't help with that.

At the same time, I get the desire for an "other" option, and get that this would for some people better reflect how they see themselves.



Who_Am_I
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 12,632
Location: Australia

21 Jul 2009, 9:48 pm

Mysty wrote:
The problem with "other" is it doesn't tell us which pronouns to use.


http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-the2.htm


_________________
Music Theory 101: Cadences.
Authentic cadence: V-I
Plagal cadence: IV-I
Deceptive cadence: V- ANYTHING BUT I ! !! !
Beethoven cadence: V-I-V-I-V-V-V-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I
-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I! I! I! I I I


exhausted
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Jun 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 667

21 Jul 2009, 10:05 pm

not absolutely certain, but i believe that in Cantonese, there are no gender-specific pronouns.

i personally don't mind either one--him/her, etc.


_________________
punctuation... life is full of punctuation.


Mysty
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Age: 55
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,762

22 Jul 2009, 11:40 am

Who_Am_I wrote:
Mysty wrote:
The problem with "other" is it doesn't tell us which pronouns to use.


http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-the2.htm


I'm quite familiar with singular they and use it myself. It doesn't apply here. Singular they has historically been used only for a non-specified individual (anyone, someone, no one). (Yeah, that article lists "everyone" but that's actually using it as a plural pronoun. "We" could also be used after everyone: If everyone wants to go, we will.)

Using singular they for specific person is a new non-standard usage. And likely to be quite disjunctive to a lot of readers. Before the internet, there was rarely a situation where you'd be referring to a specific known person without knowing their gender, so there's no standard way to deal with that.