He or she — ‘they’ — to which it is hard to adapt
I have a question: With the changes to the usage of the English language that seems to be never ending. Do you think we will get to the point where we will actually start a sentence with “They is”? I ask this in all seriousness because of what is appearing in some local news stories, mainly when it comes to releases from Sault Ste. Marie Police Services but also from what I have seen in reading some major newspapers. Examples: “One person faces multiple charges after it is alleged that “they” threatened security personnel with a knife and assaulted police officers late Tuesday afternoon.” “Communicators received a report of someone assaulting two security officers in the 700 block of Great Northern Road. Officers responded and an investigation revealed the accused had verbally threatened and physically assaulted two security officers. “They” had also lit and smoked a cigarette inside a building despite signage indicating smoking was not allowed.” “Officers eventually located the suspect and placed ‘them’ under arrest.” I haven’t been able to recover the story that got me onto this. It led off saying a woman had been arrested for something but later referred to her in the plural ‘they.’ At that time I just thought it was an error but then I began to see it regularly. News outlets don’t seem to have any problem with this as they print the releases verbatim. Actually, it doesn’t bother me as much as it would have at one time. I used to recoil when I would hear news announcers say “have went” or something along the lines of “he has done that many more times than me” when it should have been, at that time, “many more times than I have.” Now the use of “me” in such instances is commonplace. I don’t think any of the announcers on CNN know any different. Katy Steinmetz of Time magazine did a piece on this use or misuse of pronouns in 2019. “Pronouns are tools that people typically use with all the thought one gives to using doorknobs,” she wrote. “Students are taught in early language lessons that every sentence needs a subject and are given a short list of usual suspects: words like he, she, you and they. The latter, they are told, is used to refer to more than one person. Yet that’s not always the case. “There are two reasons that singular they is on the upswing. One is that it’s a convenient way to refer to an unknown person in a gender-neutral way, versus using cumbersome constructions like ‘he or she.’ In recent years, it has been far easier to find this generic they in mass media because using it makes life easier for readers and writers alike. “In 2015, Washington Post copy editor Bill Walsh announced that his desk would start allowing this usage of they, explaining that it’s the best option in a language that famously lacks a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. In 2017, no less an authority than the Associated Press stylebook also approved this usage ‘when alternative wording is overly awkward or clumsy.’ “The other reason is that the singular they is being used by individuals — who might identify as transgender, non-binary, agender, intersex or even cisgender — who don’t feel like a gendered pronoun fits. “This usage of the singular they can operate as a form of protest against some of the most fundamental ideas governing society today: namely, that every person can be identified as male or female in a clear-cut manner and that males and females should look and act and be referred to in certain ways.” Steinmetz says though some traditionalists, like me, I suppose, wrinkle their noses at seeing the word themself in a newspaper article, this usage has been around for some 600 years and people employ it every day in conversation. I can’t say I have heard that one but I have heard the use of “they” often, mainly in regard to criticism of some unidentified group or another, such as politicians or people higher up in the workplace. “Did you see what they are doing now?” the cry will be. And Steinmetz cites the usage of they when dealing with bad drivers. “It’s unlikely you’d slam your hand on the wheel and exclaim, ‘Did you see that? He or she cut me off!’” I realize there is a suggestion these days that one should never assume another person’s gender, however obvious it might seem, in part because it is offensive to use words like him or her for individuals who use they and them. But I am not sure the way out of it is to use the plural they in every case in news reports out of the police department, even when the person is not named. This, to my way of thinking, is attaching a non-binary handle to all those arrested and accused of a crime. However, I guess that means every time someone is arrested he or she would have to be asked, what pronoun do you use? I will admit I am having some trouble coming to grips with the use of pronouns when it comes to the transgender world. But I am certainly trying. I hope you will forgive me for my lack of knowledge in this regard. After all, I am 92 and although I have always been in acceptance of change, I admit there are some things I don’t fully understand. This is one of them. dmillroy@gmail.com