It can be used to refer to single people, and using a plural instead of a singular is a very common way for many languages to show deference to the person you’re speaking to. Like in Finland. English already did that and did it so much it got rid of the second person singular, as “you” is a second person plural. This ofc meant there was nowhere for English to go vis-a-vis showing deference, so English really stresses titles. Narcissism of small differences, really.
nobody thinks…
Based on the votes I’ll have to disagree and say you don’t really know what others think.
So, to reiterate, you would rather that I start using archaic stereotypes to think about people and language? I have to condition myself into thinking of everyone as either a boy or a girl, and always make a mental note to gender someone as soon as I make contact with them? The first thing I do should be to gender them? That’s your takeaway?
Maybe try reading my comments again, with some thought. You’re not the hero here.
incorrect, “they” can be singular or plural. that’s not even a recent “woke mind virus” change to the language, it’s always been the case.
you literally did gender her immediately when you said “guy … his” the appropriate thing to do would be to respect the pronouns she put on her profile when they were pointed out to you.
Thus it’s not a singular. It can be used as one, but it doesn’t specify a singular, thus it isn’t one. I can use a shovel as an axe, but it doesn’t make it an axe, even though both are tools for splitting wood.
“You” isn’t singular.
I’ll demonstrate how sorely you are wrong in this matter. If you can translate the following sentence to English without it losing meaning or misgendering someone, I’ll change my comment; “hänen autonsa.” Take care to notice it is not synonymous with “heidän autonsa”.
“They” is plural, not singular.
It can be used to refer to single people, and using a plural instead of a singular is a very common way for many languages to show deference to the person you’re speaking to. Like in Finland. English already did that and did it so much it got rid of the second person singular, as “you” is a second person plural. This ofc meant there was nowhere for English to go vis-a-vis showing deference, so English really stresses titles. Narcissism of small differences, really.
Based on the votes I’ll have to disagree and say you don’t really know what others think.
So, to reiterate, you would rather that I start using archaic stereotypes to think about people and language? I have to condition myself into thinking of everyone as either a boy or a girl, and always make a mental note to gender someone as soon as I make contact with them? The first thing I do should be to gender them? That’s your takeaway?
Maybe try reading my comments again, with some thought. You’re not the hero here.
incorrect, “they” can be singular or plural. that’s not even a recent “woke mind virus” change to the language, it’s always been the case.
you literally did gender her immediately when you said “guy … his” the appropriate thing to do would be to respect the pronouns she put on her profile when they were pointed out to you.
Thus it’s not a singular. It can be used as one, but it doesn’t specify a singular, thus it isn’t one. I can use a shovel as an axe, but it doesn’t make it an axe, even though both are tools for splitting wood.
“You” isn’t singular.
I’ll demonstrate how sorely you are wrong in this matter. If you can translate the following sentence to English without it losing meaning or misgendering someone, I’ll change my comment; “hänen autonsa.” Take care to notice it is not synonymous with “heidän autonsa”.
Go ahead. I’ll wait.