Re: Sexist Language Revisited

[Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

Hmmm...  I thought I sent this out yesterday, but it didn't show - 
second try...

*****************
Dick Margulis kindly pointed out for me that the plural they does indeed 
exist.  Apparently this has been covered before, but I have to do this 
in public.  So I googled around...  (Google is not a verb yet, but I'm 
working on it.  Party on!)

From Shakespeare:
God send every one their heart's desire!
[Much Ado About Nothing, Act III Scene 4]
There's not a man I meet but doth salute me,
As if I were their well-acquainted friend.
[Comedy of Errors, Act IV Scene 3]

(What does he know?  Anyway, couldn't that be poetic license?  Mine has 
expired...)

And look at what I found rooting around in
http://www.english.vt.edu/~grammar/GrammarForWriters/forum/ForumTheir.html

"What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up 
for?"
-- child to parent.
"I believe it's strictly a matter between the patient and his doctor."
-- senator Hayakawa opines upon the subject of abortion.
"The sample for resumé stock is missing, because sadly enough, someone 
brought it upon themself to steal it."
-- notice posted at UCSC copy center, summer 1991.
"No mother should be forced by federal prosecutors to testify against 
their child."
-- Monica L.'s mother's lawyer.

These are good little problems, anyway.

And this links to the exhaustive discussion from the same site:
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austheir.html#X1x

And this from the OED (not clear which issue - found in still the same 
site as above):
(http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/sgtheirl.html)

    * They

      2. Often used in reference to a singular noun made universal by 
every, any, no, etc., or applicable to one of either sex (= `he or she').

      See Jespersen Progress in Lang. §24.
          * 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 163b, Yf... a psalme 
scape ony persone, or a lesson, or else yt. they omyt one verse or twayne.
          * 1535 FISHER Ways perf. Relig. ix. Wks. (1876) 383 He neuer 
forsaketh any creature vnlesse they before haue forsaken them selues.
          * 1749 FIELDING Tom Jones VIII. xi, Every Body fell a 
laughing, as how could they help it.
          * 1759 CHESTERF. Lett. IV. ccclv. 170 If a person is born of 
a gloomy temper ... they cannot help it.
          * 1835 WHEWELL in Life (1881) 173 Nobody can deprive us of 
the Church, if they would.
          * 1858 BAGEHOT Lit. Stud. (1879) II. 206 Nobody fancies for a 
moment that they are reading about anything beyond the pale of ordinary 
propriety.
          * 1866 RUSKIN Crown Wild Olives §38 (1873) 44 Now, nobody 
does anything well that they cannot help doing.
          * 1874 [see THEMSELVES 5].


While the OED is describing use, it seems to shy away from 
pronouncements on whether the use is, strictly speaking, correct.  Only 
that it's convention - which may be a definition of correctness for 
some.  Also, it points out the singular made universal.  So I guess that 
means you would have to do that with truckers before referring to them 
with a singular they (if the OED and their [sic] approval is of concern 
to you).  "Any trucker doing this stuff must fiddle their faddle."

Spain may have a leg up on this issue of declaring correctness vs 
convention - every 10 years the Real Academia de la Lingua Español (or 
something pompous like that) revises the official and royal lexicon to 
incorporate conventional use.  Recent atrocities include:

*  Mitin (pronounced "meeteen") - A convention where speeches are
   delivered (unnecessary because Spanish already has a term, but
   using something similar to English is much more cool)

*  Parking (a noun) - "He left his car at the parking"

There are plenty of others I can't recall at the moment.  Come to think 
of it, maybe the OED is better off not taking a stand!

Anyway thanks to Dick for keeping me honest!

cud

--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML
http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es


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