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From: jlg@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.women
Subject: Re: Gender-Specific Pronouns
Message-ID: <20463@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 28-Jan-85 15:30:17 EST
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Posted: Mon Jan 28 15:30:17 1985
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> >                                   This is the case of the use of 'they'
> >that sounds awkward - because it IS awkward.  I wont use it.
> 
> So don't...you won't be the first person to resist change.

Languages change in response to the needs of people to communicate with
each other in an efficient way.  Changes occur because, by growing
convention, the new structure conveys the intended meaning more clearly.
The use of 'they' with a singular referent does not improve the clarity
of the sentence it is in, in fact it degrades the clarity.  As such, I will
not be the only person to resist its use.

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A:  Ms. Johnson's secretary says that they will come by tomorrow.

B:  Are both Ms. Johnson and her secretary coming?

A:  No, only one person is coming.  I just said 'they' because I don't know
    the gender of Ms. Johnson's secretary.

B:  Then why didn't you say 'he' as standard English convention requires.
    We would have saved ourselves a confusing exchange.

A:  To say 'he' would have been sexist, it would have implied that the
    secretary was male.

B:  Nonsense!  To say 'she' would have been sexist since it would assume
    outright that the secretary was female.  By convention 'he' means
    either a male or a person of undetermined sex depending upon context.
    In this case the context clearly implied the sex was undetermined.
    It's clumbsy, men should really have their own pronouns, but it works
    the way it is.  To use 'they' is really confusing since it ALWAYS
    refers to more than one person.

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J. Giles