Says they

As I wrote a few weeks ago, use of masculine singular pronouns to refer generically to both sexes is not as acceptable as it used to be. Writers often struggle to avoid sexist-sounding language, while at the same time not appearing to try too hard to be politically correct. Their problem is that English lacks sexually generic third-person singular pronouns.

Or does it? Linguist Henry Churchyard says that, like you and your, the pronouns they, them, and their enjoy a venerable history of singular usage. He also gives 75 examples of "the singular their" in Jane Austen's writing, plus a slew of additional examples from other respected sources, including the OED, the King James Bible, and the writings of Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and other writers.

So it seems anyone who wants to make their writing non-sexist has an easy solution.

Comments

[ashley]

I agree. Too bad many of my colleagues do not.

[Oliver W. Holmes XXIV]

The late Judge Gee, one of the better judicial writers, called usages like your last sentence "barbarisms." Thomas G. Gee, A Few of Wisdom’s Idiosyncrasies and a Few of Ignorance’s: A Judicial Style Sheet, 1 Scribes J. Legal Writing 55, 60 (1990)

I think he was right!

[Ray]

Oh well, everyone's entitled to their opinion.