Gender Neutral Pronouns: They're Here, Get Used To Them
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters link it as a short, friendly explanation of singular they and grammatical gender in discussions of pronoun usage.
What it is
Tom Scott argues that grammatical gender is a silly concept and that the singular 'they' is an established gender-neutral pronoun. The description carries later corrections and reflections he added in 2019.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2013 to 2015.
What Hacker News said
Recommends tehwalrus · 2013-07 · on “Reminding Starbucks that Beautiful Code Should Make Beautiful Language”
They isn't just plural, it's also gender-neutral. Gender neutral pronouns: they're here to stay[1]. [1] [this video]
Recommends mdisraeli · 2013-12 · on “The Power of a Pronoun”
Because no-one's posted it yet, Tom Scott has a great video on grammatical gender that is worth a watch: [this video]
Recommends pdkl95 · 2015-08 · on “How to Fold a Julia Fractal”
> the word cromulent ... is not even a real word Only to a prescriptivist[1] trying to keep the language static. "Cromulent" is slowly making its way into descriptivist[1] dictionaries and is recognized about as often as any other new word, so it just as much a "real" word as other new words ("email", "google" (transitive verb), "truthiness"). > the correctness of using a singular they The alternative is gendered pronouns which have several problems[2]. /* I'm not trying to nitpick your post; I just thought these two Tom Scott clips were fun and relevant to these grammar issues. */ [1] [LINK] [2] [this video]