he/she = e

[Erkki]

I hate it when a person of unknown gender is referred to as "he or she" etc. And "he" is rarely used for unknown gender (probably because it can be misunderstood tor be masculine), and "they" may be confusing as well. Why not shorten he/she to just

e personal pronoun; the third-person singular, nominative case (accusative em, possessive es, reflexive emself)

Or maybe er/erself because em conflicts with 'em.

Hm... actually it seems yo has more chance than e.

[Nachimir]

I've seen "hir" used in fiction before. The problem with e is that some regional English accents drop the letter H from the start of words, so anyone saying it out loud will just sound like they've got a really thick Nottingham or Yorkshire accent

[David]

"Yo" confuses me in that role for a couple of reasons. I live in an area of the country where Spanish is spoken often enough that this wouldn't work, since "yo" means "I" in that language. Another way it doesn't seem right to me is that in English (at least in American vernacular), "Yo" is used when you're trying to direct someone's attention toward yourself so you can say something. Like when you're informing them that MTV Raps!

[Erkki]

The problem with e is that some regional English accents drop the letter H from the start of words, so anyone saying it out loud will just sound like they've got a really thick Nottingham or Yorkshire accent

But at least it's backwards compatible with those accents since using 'he' is also technically correct

[Marek]

I'm currently reading Flow by Mihaly Chikzsenmihalyalyalyaly (fuck that guy's name) and it constantly refers to people of unknown gender as "she" and it's enormously distracting.

[Ginger]

what's wrong with "it"?

[n0wak]

English is kind of deficient in such words. There's also no real equivalent to the French "vous" and it can be annoying. It gets a bad rap for being all redneck, but "y'all" is a good substitute when you think about it.

[DanJW]

what's wrong with "it"?

"It" is considered derogatory because it denotes an object or animal rather than a person. Or it has done for a long time.

Marek, I've found that "she" has become the default when speaking of hypothetical people in non-fiction. Some authors even give over a sentence in the introduction or something to say so. I got used to it pretty fast. I guess it is pre-emptive feminism or something.

Nowak, actually I really like "y'all". I use it occasionally, but I hadn't thought of it in this context. All it needs now is some tenses

[syntheticgerbil]

I'm from Texas, y'all.

That is all.

[Nachimir]

I noticed when I was working in a bar once that "guys" seemed to be becoming a collective noun for groups of either or mixed gender.

[Chris]

I noticed when I was working in a bar once that "guys" seemed to be becoming a collective noun for groups of either or mixed gender.

Yeah, but that's not really a big deal, because we already have the pronoun "them" and so on. On an individual basis, "guy" still very much refers to a male.

[Nachimir]

True, but it's unusual that it's rooted in a gender.

[Roderick]

Haha, it may be a little disturbing (distrubing, even), but I have sometimes caught the attention of my girlfriend with 'dude'. But then we will occasionally go for the bizarre. Harmless, yet horrifying.

[Marek]

I sometime call girls dudes or say "hey guys what's up" to a group of girls without really thinking about it. For some reason it's a really positive thing to do.

[Salka]

Remember the way Peter, being Hungarian, would always refer to women as "him" or "he" or whatever? That was great.

"Does Natasha hate me? I asked him to put me on the dental scheme but he ignored me, I do not know why he hates me."

Best. Also :'(

[Chris]

I have female friends who I directly address as dude, and who do the same with their female friends. I don't think it's that horrifying.