“Ze” sounds an awful lot like the formal German “Sie.” That’s going to fluster the heck out of some very uptight little Germans at Oxford. They’ve been good soldiers for Progressivism over the past several decades, of course they’ve always been good soldiers, for better or worse. Don’t want to make them cry by being too formal, which is a correction or an insult to them.
How about Thing 1 and Thing 2? Women would have to be Thing 1, of course. Can’t be second class Things, that would be sexist.
“How about Thing 1 and Thing 2? Women would have to be Thing 1, of course. Cant be second class Things, that would be sexist.”
How about “he” and “she” for normal people, and “disgusting pervo” for everyone else?
Dictionary.com agrees:
pronoun
1.
(occasionally used with a singular indefinite pronoun or singular noun antecedent in place of the definite masculine he or the definite feminine she):
My friend didn’t want to go to the party, but ze ended up having a great time!
Origin of ze
1970-1975
1970-75; based on the German pronoun sie