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His ~ Her or their?

GrahamGraham
edited February 2014 in General Vote Up0Vote Down
Just noticed on members profile page(s) that it always seems to refer to "his"

as in ******** changed HIS profile picture

being as there are "quite a few" stores not run/owned by "him(s)" perhaps consider change to their?

Comments

  • 12 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Timothy_SmithTimothy_Smith
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    "Their" is incorrect. "His" is the correct English pronoun when you don't know gender.
    Perhaps rephrase so as to avoid the pronoun entirely?
    "Profile pic has been changed by [name]" or something?
  • GrahamGraham
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Being English, I failed "English" LoL

    Anglo-Saxon Englisc, is so much simpler :-

    I blame the normans for the mess...
  • DagsBricksDagsBricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    "Their" is incorrect. "His" is the correct English pronoun when you don't know gender.
    Perhaps rephrase so as to avoid the pronoun entirely?
    "Profile pic has been changed by [name]" or something?
    Source? I hit some random links which seemed to indicate that using "his" generically is archaic. There seems to be some disagreement amongst the high pedants about what actually is correct. I will argue nothing here as my SAT math score blew away my English score.

    I'm always for removing the pronoun though. My wife speaks incessantly with pronouns and it drives me crazy. I have no idea what she's talking about. ex: "What's this thing doing here", "Did you give it to them". I then get in trouble for not reading her mind. *shrug*

    Brian
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary says it's an outdated practice and recommends using the plural pronoun 'their' despite referring back to a singular pronoun. It even points out that contrary to popular belief, using plural pronouns in such situations is nothing new.

    http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/he-or-she-versus-they
  • GrahamGraham
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    OK what is a pronoun exactly?

    @DagsBricks me too!! Mathematics A, Physics A, Chemistry A, Technical Drawing A - English Language F, English Literature H - Art F and so on...
  • DagsBricksDagsBricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Pronoun - a word that takes the place of a proper noun: he, she, it, they, them, theirs, this, that, those, t'other. Fairly indefinite without other good surrounding reference.
  • GrahamGraham
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Thanks - there ya go ambiguity - that's why I was hopeless at English!

    Funny thing is I can write a "pretty good" letter when I have to…

    also explains a good marriage when you can say things like "did you put the thing-a-ma-jig back in the thing?" … and your partner replies "of course"!
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    My wife is Spanish but is fluent in English - she makes the "thingy in the thing, you know, the thing-a-ma-jig" into an art form. Obviously, like you, I speak jibberish and can perfectly well understand what she's on about.
  • walstibwalstib
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    This is where labeling in Finnish would work, there is no gender to pronouns or words with a gender attached.

    It's frustrating that Finnish has so many practical rules like this, is almost completely phonetic when written, but 7 years into part time learning and I still can't hold a conversation.


    But seriously, a bit of change of the above to genitive, if the name was possessive it seems to flow better to me.

    "Walstib's profile picture has been changed"

  • DagsBricksDagsBricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    also explains a good marriage when you can say things like "did you put the thing-a-ma-jig back in the thing?" … and your partner replies "of course"!
    A good marriage could also be defined as one where the response is "I have no idea what the **** you're talking about" and still being married 40 years later. At least, that's where I'm headed. :-D

    My Honduran neighbor says that the word "cosa" gets brutally abused and overused in her home country. I imagine that this extends to other Spanish speaking regions as well. Brick Top?

    Perhaps "La cosa de esta persona cambiando"?

    Brian
  • alltrightbricksalltrightbricks
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I just changed me email for my forum account, and found when I did so that I was listed as a male. I changed that to female. I'm guessing it is male by default. Oddly enough, I just opened a gmail account which asked for the same info, but one of their options was other. I'm glad that isn't an option here on the Owl. :D
    Now as long as my profile doesn't say--on March 21st AlltRightBricks changed her gender...... :-S

    Katie
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