Every single person who complains that “they” is weird has, without the slightest wisp of a shadow of a doubt, said something along the lines of “yeah their coat is just over there” or “I think they were saying that…”. They can already do it, and it’s not hard, they just really wanna hate.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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I'm fine with 'they', but I think you're misrepresenting the very real problem that is inserting a 3rd-person pronoun as a personal pronoun due to the existing patterns ingrained and interpreted through speech.
It doesn't hurt me to try and make the conscious change, I do actively try for the people in my life, but it DOES flow weird in my brain and takes more mental effort to keep straight. At least, it still does, it might get easier with more time, I don't know.
They has always been a 3rd person personal pronoun just like he/she/it have as far as I know. The thing that people find upsetting is that people want to go back to using it as a singular after some grammarians decided everyone should use he or her for a while.
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The singular "they" isn't even the first time English has specifically appropriated a plural pronoun for the singular for the sake of social respect!!!
We don't even use the second person singular "thou" anymore, we just use "you" for both of them!
At one point in American history the singular they was normal and accepted but the singular you was deeply controversial
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I have (begrudgingly) gotten used to "singular they". I accept that I am not an authority on how language is used, and this is how the language has evolved. I'd have preferred a separate singular non-gendered pronoun, but I wasn't consulted because, again, not an authority on the subject. It is fine, I will adapt (and have already done so to some degree).
HOWEVER, I still have beef with what happened to "literally" and will bring it up any time semantic shift is the subject of conversation.
Asking "how are they doing" when referring to a singular third person has literally always been normal english. The singular they has basically always been fine and proper english.
Shakespeare had no problem with singular they, by the way.
I also found it natural to use before I had a concept of those existing outside the gender binary. "Who left their umbrella?"
Mentioning semantic shift here doesn't seem to do anything but make me imagine you are grandpa Simpson yelling at passing clouds.
i'm totally grandpa simpson about this. "Literally" is literally a lost cause.
I want to make fun of you for being older than Shakespeare. Even Shakespeare was less of a boomer about singular they
Gotten used to the singular they? Were you born in 900 or something? Seriously, the first written example we have of the singular they dates back to the 14th century.
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Nothing happened to “literally”, its meaning is the same as always and it never means “figuratively”.
When people say “literally” to exaggerate, the word is part of the exaggeration, not describing the exaggeration.
They’re not literally “dead”, they’re “literally dead”. “Literally dead” is the state they exaggerate being in.
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Only weirdos talk to tits, I, as a gentleman, always address each individually (by their preferred pronouns ofc).
/s
When he was 2, one of my nephews decided to name my tits after the main characters of his favorite TV show. I thought it was so funny that I still introduce them to partners as Bingo and Rolly.
Lol.
Better than:
- Tom & Jerry
- Mario & green Mario
- Finn & Jake
- Patrick & SpongeBob
- Fox & Dana
- Beavis & Butthead
Ohh, Bingo & Rolly are sweater puppies, now I get it!
Hey! It works! Let me ask my wife if I can refer yo her by her tits she says no.
So close. Try, "Hey, babe, do you mind if I refer to this girl online by her tits?"
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Are they very tall?
The tits?
It's an inherited property, so yeah them too
"They did a great job on the last project. They are a valuable member of the team"
as the kids say, this sent me 💀
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