Re: [PATCH 0/2] Avoid gender pronouns

From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 12, 2021, 01:39 UTC
Message-ID: <60c4105c2de76_bd9208d2@natae.notmuch>
In-Reply-To: <57c48ef2-7fac-4d3f-e74b-a3ad44c49480@gmail.com>

Bagas Sanjaya wrote:

Show 18 quoted lines

> Hi Felipe,
> 
> On 12/06/21 03.28, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> > The latest solution looking for a problem [1] is to use the actively
> > debated among linguists singular "they" [2].
> > 
> > Leaving aside the linguistic intricacies that not all singular "they" are
> > equal [3], and the overwhelming sentiment that these kinds of political
> > discussions don't provide value for this community [4], the "issue" can
> > be easily solved by simply using different wording.
> > 
> >    - The reviewer herself
> >    + The reviewers themselves
> > 
> > Problem solved.
> 
> So this patchset avoids any gender pronouns by changing single subject 
> to many objects (plural), right?

That is just one example. A good writer like a good programmer uses different tools for different situations.

Another tool used in this patchset is to make use of the passive voice: she made a mistake -> a mistake was made. Another is singular "they" (but used properly). And another is to just completely reword the offending sentence.

Cheers.

-- 
Felipe Contreras