

Ask HN: He v. She - Ardit20

While doing some research I am noting that most authors are using she when last century they would have used he. Was there a meeting and I missed it? :P<p>For some reason I feel uncomfortable when I read she instead of he. I don't think it sound natural :P<p>What do you use? I like he, maybe (s)he but then what about his or her.
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davidw
"They" is actually quite good in many cases, and apparently even Shakespeare
used it. It's not supposed to be "grammatically correct", but frankly I think
it works a lot better than putting in a random he or she when the sex of the
person is unknown. For example:

"A child becomes an adult when they turn 18."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they>

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russell
The use of he has been denounced as sexist. The problem is that there is no
gender neutral third person singular pronoun in English. Well there is "one",
but it sounds stilted. Some authors alternate between he and she, I sometimes
use s/he. But s/him, s/his? In informal writing, I find myself using "you" a
lot. Others are trying the plural for the singular. It sounds uneducated, but
I bet it's the one that will take.

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DanielBMarkham
He is the traditional gender-neutral pronoun.

If you care about being denounced as sexist, you can make your writing do
weird things, like s/he.

If you're tired of being told how to think, just go with he. It worked for
Shakespeare. It can work for you too.

I find myself using "you" a lot when "he" would be much better. In my opinion,
it lowers the quality of the material. Likewise, some authors want to impress
you with their sensitivity and alternate between he and she. This I find
particularly annoying, for I could care less the sex of a gender-neutral
example. I find it distracting. The s/he thing is so far out there as to
elicit a little pat on the head and a warm smile (as you would do to small
children) to anyone who finds it useful.

Sorry -- pet peeve of mine.

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yan
I use he almost always when 'one' sounds wrong. I'm not important enough to
offend anyone. Plus, if someone is truly offended by seeing "he" in writing,
they have bigger issues, in my opinion.

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mooism2
I use "they" and "their".

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tome
<http://plover.net/~bonds/genderedlanguage.html>

