ec2-3-137-185-180.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Once upon a time there were gender-neutral pronouns in the EnglishLanguage, ou and a; but they died out sometime in the MiddleAges?. Old and MiddleEnglish? had the forms he and heo masculine and feminine respectively. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the masculine and feminine pronouns had developed to a point where, according to the OED?, they were "almost or wholly indistinguishable in pronunciation." The modern feminine pronoun she, which first appears in the mid twelfth century, seems to have been drafted at least partly to reduce the increasing ambiguity.
Gender-neutral pronouns have been seeing a rise in popularity, particularly with the rise of the TransCommunity, many of whom find the limitations of traditional pronouns irritating, awkward or downright offensive. Common pronouns in use are sie, hir, zie, zir, and also "e" (see GenderNonSpecificPronouns).
I thank my English teacher for giving us a lesson on this, we knew his arcane knowledge would come in useful --Indigo
Use of "they" (and its derivatives) to refer to a person without specifying their gender is in common modern usage, and dates back at least several centuries: Shakespeare used it.
I recently read something online that used 'em' and 'eirs' to replace she/he and hers/his respectively but I can't remember where... What exactly is the TransCommunity? --K
It's also helpful, though makes you look like an utter blogger (trying wayyy too hard), online sometimes. Since you can't tell what gender people are, don't know whether they'll be offended by the use of the wrong one and "he/she" phrasing is incredibly clumsy. --Vitenka
Vote for this title to be the main retained one. Although actually there's a distinction. "It" is gender neutral. "They" is gender non-specific. --Vitenka
On a slightly related note, I have had great fun playing characters of different races in RPGs who greet people with 'Hello, sir or madam', or consistently refer to people as 'it'. Much is unconsciously predicated upon these pronouns, and I find it an interesting way to portray the slightly alien both in writing and acting. --Requiem
Coping with gender-ambiguous characters is fun ;) Has anyone ever read Lythande, by Marion Zimmer Bradley? - SunKitten
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GenderNeutralPronoun