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python vs c#

Alex Martelli aleaxit at yahoo.com
Sat Oct 2 18:50:42 EDT 2004 
Tim Roberts <timr at probo.com> wrote:

> Second, "their" is allowed as a singular pronoun only in those cases where
> a gender-specific pronoun is called for, but the gender is unclear or would
> be sexist.  Instead of "Everyone brought his Python manual," we are now
> allowed to say "Everyone brought their Python manual."

Sorry, but I think you're being too restrictive.  More impressively, so
does one William Shakespeare (Comedy of Errors):
"""
There's not a man I meet but doth salute me,
 As if I were their well-acquainted friend.
"""
See?  "a man" ... "their".

And the author of another of the masterpieces of English, the "King
James' Bible" (Matthew 18:35):
"...if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses..."
See?  "brother" <-> "their".

While most uses of singular "their" will be connected to gender
indeterminacy, I agree with "Henry Churchyard's linguistics page",
specifically with his subpage on the subject at
<http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html>, that:
"""
unspecified gender is actually neither a necessary or sufficient
condition for use of singular "their"
"""

Churchyard gives specific examples from Austen and Shakespeare and
argues cogently:
"""
It's also interesting that in several of the examples (they are pointed
out in the list), singular "their" refers to each of several women, and
so was not used to express gender-neutrality. The reason for this is
that singular "their" can serve as a general way of expressing
indefiniteness, which need not have anything whatever to do with
gender-neutrality.
"""


Alex
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