Pronouns (was Re: Proposed Constitution)

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

This discussion is ridiculous.

In my view singular `they' is perfectly correct.  If I can use it in
my PhD thesis (with a footnote[1] and supporting references, and
without any complaint from the examiners) then we can use it here.

Furthermore, language is defined by use, not by prescription (try
asking a linguist, rather than a schoolteacher).  Singular `they' is
very well accepted practice in this speech community; in the contexts
I have used it it is (I believe) clear, clean and unambiguous.

I will not change the current draft, and blustering here will not make
me change my mind.  If you're so horribly bothered you'll have to
propose an amendment; I wonder if you could find five sufficiently
anal (and wrong) supporters.

Ian.

[1] The footnote reads:

 I follow well-established English practice in using the terms `they',
 `their' and `them' as gender-neutral singulars, as well as plurals
 [OED89, vol.XVII, p.928, col.3, `they', 2nd sense] [Churchyard97]

The references are:

 [OED89]         `Oxford English Dictionary'.
                 Oxford University Press. 2nd ed., 1989

 [Churchyard97]  Henry Churchyard, `Singular `their' in Jane Austen
                 and elsewhere'.
                 http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~churchh/austheir.html


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