They. Off Topic, Sort of

[FaithT]

Is it just me or do any of you get confused when transexuals use the word “they” instead of “he” or “she”? I belong to several book boards on fb and somebody was writing about her “partner” being chronically ill and how audiobooks are all they have and how she had a bookshelf made for her partner to be filled with audiobooks. I thought she was talking about the public library when talking about “all they have” and didnt understand why she needed to collect library books on a bookshelf since you return them anyway. I read it twice, I think, yesterday, and three times today before it occurred to me that she was using “they” as a pronoun for her partner. “They”, ”them”blah blah blah.

 

[RileyG]

It's because they (no pun intended) see themselves as "non-binary." Neither male nor female, or a mixture of male or female.

No. I don't get it either.

 

[FaithT]

It's because they (no pun intended) see themselves as "non-binary." Neither male nor female, or a mixture of male or female.

No. I don't get it either.

I used to volunteer with a transsexual (a guy who lived as a woman). That was really weird, especially when my husband and I ran into him and his friend, partner, or whatever he was, at a furniture store.his friend looked even more strange than the one I worked with. Like he was dressed up as a woman for Halloween or something.

 

[RileyG]

I used to volunteer with a transsexual (a guy who lived as a woman). That was really weird, especially when my husband and I ran into him and his friend, partner, or whatever he was, at a furniture store.his friend looked even more strange than the one I worked with. Like he was dressed up as a woman for Halloween or something.

That doesn't surprise me, sadly.

 

[FaithT]

I

That doesn't surprise me, sadly.

It surprised my husband. I had to introduce them to Him. It was the first time in awhile, if ever, when my husband was speechless.

 

[ozso]

I've been seeing it applied to ordinary people as well when reading articles.

 

[RileyG]

I've been seeing it applied to ordinary people as well when reading articles.

Odd.

 

[Michie]

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

 

[Hamlet7768]

The singular "they" is neither new nor unusual--it's older than Shakespeare at a cursory lookup, and eminently useful when the gender of the antecedent is not known, eg: "Someone left their book here." It isn't until the mid-1700s that grammatical prescriptivists tried to suppress it, first with the "indeterminate he" rule (that is, to default to male, basically borrowing from the Romance language convention), then with the more accommodating but awkward "he or she", as in "Someone left his or her book here."

 

[FaithT]

The singular "they" is neither new nor unusual--it's older than Shakespeare at a cursory lookup, and eminently useful when the gender of the antecedent is not known, eg: "Someone left their book here." It isn't until the mid-1700s that grammatical prescriptivists tried to suppress it, first with the "indeterminate he" rule (that is, to default to male, basically borrowing from the Romance language convention), then with the more accommodating but awkward "he or she", as in "Someone left his or her book here."

I still find it grammatically incorrect.

 

[RileyG]

Yup. Their is men and women. He or she. They is plural.

 

[FaithT]

Yup. Their is men and women. He or she. They is plural.

It’s like with any slang: people use it but it’s not proper English.

 

[RileyG]

It’s like with any slang: people use it but it’s not proper English.

Agreed!

 

[Michie]

Have you caught up on any sleep yet?

 

[FaithT]

Have you caught up on any sleep yet?

Me or Riley?

 

[RileyG]

Me or Riley?

I think she was referring to you.

I did get to sleep around 5:30 AM and woke up around 3:30 pm. I work tomorrow at 4 pm.

 

[FaithT]

I think she was referring to you.

I did get to sleep around 5:30 AM and woke up around 3:30 pm. I work tomorrow at 4 pm.

Insomnia stinks.

 

[RileyG]

Insomnia stinks.

Agreed. Been dealing with it for most of my life.