Yesterday, a commenter called me out for incorrect usage of "they" on a post about penis size. I wrote, "Have you ever met someone who claims they never measured their penis?" It was suggested that "he" replace "they", with the logic that anyone who has a penis is male.
However, I stand by my original statement. In my experience, gender and biological sex are not equivalent. Someone can have a penis and identify as female, male or choose not to identify as either. Just sayin'.
UPDATE: Okay, you may win this time (sort of), but don't make us resort to using "ze" and "hir" to make our point.
– Dewitt
Photo credit: Fading Ad
Yeah, that person was really being pedantic… and y’all were right all along!
Not that I care too much about the grammar in a very readable post, but the problem with the sentence was not appropriate gender pronoun usage, but rather an issue of singularity or plurality – there must be either two singular pronouns used or two plural pronouns used. If you wanted to make it gender neutral, you would have to say “Have you ever met someone who claims he or she has never measured his or her penis?”
Like I said though, as long as people get the point, it’s not a big idea. Some linguists have been pushing for a relaxing of grammatical rules, claiming that as long as people can read a sentence, it’s grammatically correct (enough).
This is all really just a bunch of silliness now isn’t it?
Yeah, I agree…it’s still technically grammatically incorrect, though we understand your meaning.
Um, actually, I never have measured mine, so there are a few people…
Yes, it is grammatically incorrect….The issue isn’t gender; it’s singular versus plural. Sure, you can say it’s silly, but then perhaps you think all grammar is silly. That’s your right….But then again, it was the feminists who started using “them, their, and theirs” to agree with the singular pronouns such as “each, someone, no one, everyone” because up until then people used the pronoun “he.” The feminists said that was sexist language, so now people use “they” with singular pronouns. It may all be silly, but politics chnaged the language.
Ok, I never comment on this but I just have to in regards to the usage of “they”. I use “they” to refer to someone whom I may not want to reveal their gender, e.g. in a work conversation discussing outside relationships (mostly depends on the audience). The BBC has also started using the word “they” in their broadcasting and media to replace “he or she” as well. I also minored in linguistics and I do not see anything semantically incorrect about your statement.
He is making the common ‘mistake’ of using ‘they’ as a gender neutral singular pronoun, which has always made a lot more sense than ze or hir to me.
“They” used to refer to a single individual is wrong, period. “They” is plural.
If you can’t cast the sentence properly using a pronoun in that position, rephrase it. If you want to avoid using both “he or she” and “his or her” in one sentence, something like “Have you ever met someone who claims to have never measured his (or her) penis?”
“Have you ever met someone who claims to have never measured their penis”
lol there. That way it is completely gender neutral AND you didn’t have to use “he or she” and “his or her” in the same sentence AND it’s still refering to ONE person and not several. YAY!! *claps hands and jumps up and down cheering*