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  • A new pronoun. Again?

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phdwife@etex.net Nov 28, 2006 2:20 pm

As long as there are "hes" and "shes," there will be "his" and "hers."  Eliminate the sexes, and you can do away with those pesky gendered pronouns.  Until then, I'm afraid "his" and "her" are here to stay.  However, if grammatical rules are fluid (or largely ignored in many instances), then why don't we all agree to make "Everyone loves their mother" grammatically acceptable?  After all, AAVE and other dialectal forms have become a part of the lexicon, so instead of trying to wipe out gendered forms of speech, let's simply make heretofore ungrammatical speech okey dokey.

Reply to phdwife@etex.net at 2:20 pm
bjs2033@columbia.edu Nov 28, 2006 3:56 pm

I've learned not to worry about whether or not grammarians approve of new pronouns; practical usage, and not esoteric proclamation, will continue to dictate the evolution of the English language...much to the chagrin of certain academics who seem bent on making English into an undead language.

Reply to bjs2033@columbia.edu at 3:56 pm