The suit was filed a day after the BB post, but I’m glad it’s noted in the comments.
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Good point, thanks. Sometimes the original poster will add an update to the original post, although this one is getting a bit stale. @thomdunn, would you consider adding a mention of their anti-mask lawsuit to this post?
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Then don’t use it for yourself. Problem solved.
Also what both @the_borderer and @Nightflyer said.
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I agree that that’s a good solution when it’s practiced. My point is only that people often either don’t care enough or don’t know enough to change the sentence.
My general preference is for language conventions that make it harder to accidentally introduce ambiguity into language, because even careful users of language don’t always notice ambiguity. Broad acceptance of singular they, even though it’s a necessary change, is not that kind of convention.
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I did mention that DeMezzo is anti-mask in the post, but I didn’t find anything about a lawsuit. Can you share a source?
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True, it’s different from what was standard just a few years ago, but it’s easy to sort out if you look at the context of the conversation. Language is dynamic, so expect other variations down the road.
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Pronouns are always confusing if you don’t keep antecedents clear.
Mary and Sara went dancing. She was dancing when she went to get a drink. Then she came back and accidentally spilled her drink on her.
Who is who in these sentences?
These sentences would be clear if it was “she” and “he” interacting instead but both people use she so the sentence becomes unclear and must be re-written to make sense.
Singular “they” needs to be clarified from plural “they” only as much as multiple she’s or he’s in a story.
Edit:. The solution for pronoun lack of clarity is always, when unclear repeat the name instead of using a pronoun.
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Thanks, Thom! Courtesy of @KathyPartdeux
Bonus, it involves a “controversial pho restaurant”! New Hampshire at it’s finest.
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Never mind.
Plural ‘you’ - youse, y’all
Plural ‘they’ - thems, them’all
Plural “genderless satanist anarchist” - my cousins
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Also “the pastor at a libertarian church”?
I wonder if they gather every Sunday to worship the Invisible Hand of the Free Market.
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Sadly it’s not even an interesting controversy. It’s just that the pho restaurant is named with a “fucking” pun.
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