Doesn't this bother you?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I don't know if someone's noticed this yet, but if you click on somebody's name it says "tomatox1 changed their profile picture," not the more grammatically correct "tomatox1 changed his or her profile picture"</p>

2

<p>Yes. It keeps me up late at night too. </p>

3

<p>dude your profile pictures are hilarious</p>

4

<p>English doesn’t have a gender-neutral pronoun for this purpose. Pronouns are a closed class of words, so it’s hard to make up new ones out of nowhere, but “their” is almost universally accepted in this context (much more so than any other one-word alternative) even if it sounds awkward. (Also, not everyone wants to be called one of “him” or “her.” I think it would be best if they asked you what pronoun you wanted when you registered, though.)</p>

5

<p>No</p>

6

<p>Me hates incorrect grammar.</p>

7

<p>No</p>

8

<p>I hope you end up at community college.</p>

9

<p>@Ch1746 That wouldn’t be considered an insult anywhere but here. SHOTS FIRED!</p>

10

<p>i was so tired idk why i posted this</p>

11

<p>so ummm pudding cups</p>

12

<p>Let’s start a petition to fix this serious issue. </p>

13

<p>The masculine form is used in English when gender is not known. With respect to the situation discussed in the original post, “tomatox1 changed their profile picture,” should be changed to “tomatox1 changed his profile picture,” regardless of his (see what I did there?) gender.</p>

14

<p><a href=“meangreenworkshops.com”>meangreenworkshops.com;

15

<p>

People often try to avoid this today because it has sexist origins. IMO most people who consistently use “he” to mean “anyone” really are thinking of a man in particular. In papers for school I usually alternate between “his” and “her” (not within the same sentence, obviously). </p>

16

<p>why not “its”</p>

17

<p>I wish all my worries were about English grammar. I’d live a pretty happy life. </p>

18

<p>I’d much rather worry about something that made sense, not English grammar.</p>

19

<p>If things made sense we wouldn’t worry about them. </p>

20

<p>@Repede - Isn’t grammar sensical at its very core? Grammar exists so that we can make sense of language. </p>

<p>I still think I’d rather worry about people who use the wrong form of your/you’re than nuclear warfare or something. </p>