Re: [PATCH v3 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 17, 2021, 14:46 UTC
Message-ID: <60cb603f471c2_1259c2084c@natae.notmuch>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqsg1iseza.fsf@gitster.g>

Junio C Hamano wrote:

> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > On Tue, Jun 15 2021, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> By the way, I do not mind toning down "if you absolutely need to
> ... resort to" that discourages "singular they".  I just wanted
> writers to consider that the language evolves slowly, and if they
> think "singular they" is the best vehicle to phrase what they want
> to say even after considering that it may sound distracting to
> foreigners,

Once again, it's not just foreigners. Even native speakers who are professional lingusits see a problem with some usages of singular "they".

Like mushrooms: not all uses of singular "they" are good.

-- 
Felipe Contreras