Sure, but it is used as a plural often enough to cause confusion. It’s nothing that’s going to cause an airplane to fall from the sky, but it has caused me to miscount dinner guests.
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And you is plural. The singular is thou.
If we could cope with that change then we can cope with singular they.
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This might be the crux of the matter. Language by its nature evolves as the usage changes. Slang changes extremely rapidly, more established usage changes more gradually but it all changes, constantly. We are watching one such evolution in real time, and as one would expect, some are less comfortable with it than others. For myself, the singular “they” feels odd, but i can learn. For some others, the hangup is giving respect to a group they do not believe should be respected. That is where I get angry. These two types of discomfort with change should (IMHO) not be conflated.
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Yeah, it’s not much to ask people to adapt this minor component of language in a way that would benefit so many. Like our conversation about the word “anarchy” in which you correctly pointed out the historical use that substantiates the modern usage, I just kind of wish there was a newly minted phrase without any prior attachments. We have pretty readily adopted the phrases “African Americans” and “People of Color” (those who give a fuck, anyway). I really like Latinx forthis very reason. It is impossible to confuse usage, and to anyone who isn’t willfully ignorant, elegantly conveys the intent; a gender non-specific identity for people of Latin descent.
But again, this isn’t about my discomfort and I will happily use any term that helps relieve any oppressed group in any way.
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There are several. None have been adopted to the same extent as singular they.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ze
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sie
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hir
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/co
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I try and think of it as “the Royal They.”
As for singular and plural “you,” especially as the post is about Ft. Worth, it would be easily resolved by using the plural “y’all.”
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This is really the core of the issue and why the outrage against “PC” language seems to mainly come one end of the spectrum. It is such a minor hassle that anyone can adapt if they choose to employ compassion, but for many that’s simply a bridge too far. Perhaps because they have never learned to exercise compassion for themselves.
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Speaking personally (hi, it’s Pride month, and I’m a male-presenting enby! I’m fine with he or they), I don’t use any of the new ones because they all make being non-binary sound like some sort of newly-invented exotic thing when we’ve been here all along.
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And they probably won’t be in the future, either. Pronouns are a lot more conservative part of grammar (in the non-political sense) than adjectives and nouns, which are being created and lost all the time, because that’s their purpose.
Just look at how singular they has survived, despite attempts by prescriptivists to eliminate it from the English language!
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I can’t remember where it was but I do remember reading that “y’all” is singular and the plural was “all y’all”.
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Those are formal usages.
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Singular: You
2-3: y’all
More than 3: all y’all
In Pittsburgh, substitute “yinz” for “y’all” and you (all o’yinz) will be fine also.
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Lol, I bet the ESL teachers all have a grand old time with stuff like this.
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Things like this are why you always tell those who learned English as a second language, particularly as adults. They speak properly. Those of us who grew up with it bastardize it mercilessly!
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Or depending on your region, y’all’s. (Which is just… fucking hell, why?)
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Context usually helps… It’s not hard to be polite and use the pronouns people prefer, whether you think it’s “grammatically correct” or not. It’s not really much of your, mine, or anyone else’s business how people feel comfortable being addressed. It’s just, simply, the right thing to do.
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Y’all’s denotes possession or ownership. Like, y’all’s mobile home.
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Whenever I’ve heard it used (at least in the Houston area), the final “'s” is a contraction for “is”. (“You all is”)
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So, as speakers of American we should just say Latin, right? /s
You is also singular formal. One of the weird things in English is that we’ve dropped the informal. I think most languages drop the formal if they drop something.
