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To: nicollo

I’d put “xi/xer” in the “confusing” category.

What do you think? Will that crap flame out? Or take root and become standard usage?


85 posted on 12/11/2021 3:51:33 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“…in any great disaster, there's a Harvard man in the middle of it.” ~ Thomas Sowell)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Sadly, I think Grammar Guy is correct that since “xi/xer” won’t take, we’re stuck with “they” as singular.

At best, we’ll likely have bifurcated usage, which is inherently imprecise. (Without specificity we cannot have truth.) I still see “she” used for the generic 3rd person singular in place of the “he”, and I think, “oh, how quaint.” But it’s still out there.

Grammar Guy claims that “they” is appropriate for the singular so long as the reference is clear. That’s ludicrous, as “they” is plural so it cannot possibly refer to a singular noun. But they’ll get away with it and further pollute our language, just as our economy, our culture, our decency, as everything the left touches it degrades.


86 posted on 12/11/2021 4:08:14 PM PST by nicollo
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