Talk:Bucket Gender

they, their, them, themself, etc. are NOT androgynous singular pronouns. They are PLURAL pronouns. It's not correct English usage to use them as a gender neutral singular pronoun. You have to say his/her or (s)he, etc...

I'm putting this in the discussion page because I surfed in here and don't use this wiki. But please, somebody change this.

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"They", however, is commonly used as a singular in some English dialects (in more street-wise environments). "She didn't like his hand there" she said, "So she up and kicked they ass". I don't know how prevalent this is, but I have heard it on occasion in the right circles. And vernacular will have an effect on contemporary language, if for no other reason than to annoy linguistic purists. NefariousWheel 04:03, 8 July 2011 (EDT)

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Sorry, but you're both wrong. Singular 'they' has been used by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, John Milton and Oscar Wilde. I don't know if any of them could be described as 'streetwise'. Singular 'they' may not be part of your particular dialect, but it is a widely used and long attested fact of the English language. For some actual linguists' opinions on the subject read these Language Log posts:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001362.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001721.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001582.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001696.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000011.html