A linguist will have a hard time if he tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if he or she tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if he/she tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if s/he tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if they try to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if zhe tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
A linguist will have a hard time if zie tries to come up with the perfect gender neutral pronoun in English.
Depending upon your political leanings, you may find one or more of the sentences above ridiculous. Many people find the very idea of gender neutral pronouns preposterous to the point of sending death threats to those who have dared to formally enter them in style guides. In the middle of the last century, Strunk and White dismissed any linguistic adaptations motivated by gender equality because, they argued, the word “he” becomes gender neutral, not androcentric, when referring to everyman, mankind, etc. This argument has failed to hold up since the women’s movement, and most Western periodicals agree that such language is archaic with male chauvinist undertones, hence the plethora of proposed alternatives.
This can get harder in other languages. In German, everyone knows right away if your best friend is a girl or a guy because you have to call a female your “best friendess.” A troll gives away her gender in Russian or French the moment she types, “I’m smart/rich/European.” A Japanese speaker would give it away at the word “I.”
But wherever there are strict rules about gender, there is deep confusion about gender. A “girl” in German (“Mädchen,” from which we get “maiden”) is technically gender neutral because all words ending in –chen are. Thus, German kids grow up on stories like Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood containing lines such as, “The prince took the maiden home to his castle and married it.” English isn’t any more logical when considering that almost all of our modern caricatures of ducks—ducklings, rubber duckies, Donald, Daffy, and Duckula—are automatically associated with boyishness, yet the word “duck” is technically as female as the word “cow.”
Most people on earth speak a language that distinguishes between “he” and “she” because most of the languages of the former colonial powers do. But a study of several hundred of the 6,000+ languages on earth found most do not. Whether you’re speaking Finnish or Farsi, you can talk about your best friend, your teacher, your doctor or your least favorite coworker for hours without letting anyone know anything about the person’s gender identity. No “his” and “hers” bath towels, no needing to find out your baby’s sex for linguistic ease.
So while The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage now urges its writers to avoid gendered pronouns, it appears the best solution would be to avoid English altogether.
Painting On Scars 
I use “they” as a first-person gender-neutral/all-inclusive pronoun, and it sounds fine to me; I think a lot of people are using “they” in this way these days.
I’m learning Thai and there’s no gender for verbs or nouns (other than say, the “natural gender” of words that are the Thai equivalents of “woman” and “man”, for example). However there is a commonly used particle that expresses politeness — it would be just about impossible not to use it — and which varies depending on the speaker’s gender. I’ve noticed text on signs using the female version of the particle; I’d never before thought about having to pick a gender for a written message on a sign….
I find I do it, too, in writing and speaking without giving it much thought. I think it’s creeping into standard spoken English.
That’s interesting about Thai. I’m fascinated with the phenomenon in Asian languages of indicating your own gender as a speaker.
Reblogged this on bhavnasultana.
Thank you!