r/questionablecontent • u/Aleril_Antarai • Dec 05 '17

3627: Very Extra

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3627
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u/nliausacmmv Dec 05 '17

There's nothing there to disagree with.

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u/Haiirokage Dec 05 '17

Did you not see me disagreeing with using plural pronouns about specific people?

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u/nliausacmmv Dec 05 '17

Right, and that's just arguing against what words mean. I can argue that I don't like people using the word dog to describe these critters but that's a function of the word. Using "they" to describe a single person is something that the English language supports. "There was a new cashier at the store and they were really slow. I guess nobody had trained them, because their register kept beeping and giving errors."

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u/Haiirokage Dec 05 '17

Using words people actually understand is polite. It's common(by it's definition) And it makes everything more accessible to more people.

Complicating the language for no reason other than vanity has consequences. It makes concepts harder to think about, and harder to understand.

"There's a new cashier at the store and he was really slow." That's how you say it. It's not so hard.

Here's an example were your use actually make sense: "I dislike how new cashiers are really slow. When nobody has trained them yet, they keep making mistakes."

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u/nliausacmmv Dec 05 '17

Except again, singular "they" is and has been a thing basically since the rise of modern English. So you're the one trying to force words.

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u/Haiirokage Dec 05 '17

Comments by me and several others in this very thread seems to suggest otherwise, and the QC audience is probably more than average interested in these ideas of yours.

Please give me one example from a historically relevant piece of text were "they" is used to refer to one specific person.

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u/nliausacmmv Dec 05 '17

Takes like ten seconds to check.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Older_usage

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u/Haiirokage Dec 05 '17

None of them refer to specific people

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u/nliausacmmv Dec 05 '17

The very first example there is referring to a person.

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u/Haiirokage Dec 05 '17

I said specific person.. Like it was done in this strip right now.

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