Yup, that was when I decided to grit my teeth and use non-gendered language no matter what it did to prosody. Once I transitioned from “ve” to “they” it grew on me surprisingly fast, and no longer takes a conscious effort; male-specific language now seems jarring.
Hofstadter (and Dawkins) were both influential to my thoughts on non-gendered language, but XKCD best sums up my thoughts on “they” vs. awkward substitutes.
Yup, that was when I decided to grit my teeth and use non-gendered language no matter what it did to prosody. Once I transitioned from “ve” to “they” it grew on me surprisingly fast, and no longer takes a conscious effort; male-specific language now seems jarring.
“They” has long been in use for that purpose anyhow. Singular “they” being incorrect is a relatively modern, and quickly fading, notion.
Hofstadter (and Dawkins) were both influential to my thoughts on non-gendered language, but XKCD best sums up my thoughts on “they” vs. awkward substitutes.
Not that “they” isn’t the current best option for practical writing, but had you ever tried Spivak?
ETA: The notability I claim for Spivak is that it does not add sounds not present in the standard English pronouns (such as z and v).
I believe the favored gender-neutral third-person subject pronoun du jour is “zie.”
ie. “Zie bought hir shoes at Walmart.”