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[Python-Dev] Vagaries of "their" in English (was Re: Support the /usr/bin/python2 symlink upstream)

Steven D'Aprano steve at pearwood.info
Sun Mar 6 01:18:34 CET 2011 
Westley Martínez wrote:

> I believe singular they should not be used in formal writing. So what if
> you use it in an email?

If you, personally, dislike it, then don't use it. But if you (generic 
you) say that it is grammatically incorrect to do so, then you are 
simply *wrong*. Some things are a matter of taste and individual 
opinion, but the validity of singular-they is not one of them.

And if you (generic you) insist that a grammatical feature which goes 
back to Chaucer in written English, most likely a thousand years in 
spoken English, and that is used by the King James Bible, is politically 
correct zealotry created by feminists, well, that's just laughable.

This is off-topic and we've put enough noise on the dev list about this. 
If anyone wishes to continue a serious, good-faith discussion, I'm happy 
to talk off-list.



-- 
Steven
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