Pronoun Woes

This old reader/writer knows the difference between singular and plural pronouns.

I just finished an audio book that kind of bugged me. The problem: the use of plural pronouns to apply to a singular person.

It was jarring. Most of the characters had the usual singular pronouns of he/him/his or she/her/hers so the text I heard as I listened was extremely easy to follow when the reader read about those characters. But one main character used the they/them/their pronouns. As a result, anytime the reader referred to that person, it sounded as if he were talking about multiple people. My listening brain came to a complete halt every time.

I’m old school. Although I understand the reason why people don’t want to use a male or female pronoun, I really wish we’d come up with a pronoun that didn’t already exist as a plural.

It’s difficult to understand text that refers to one person with a plural pronoun when the text could easily refer to multiple people. Many times that the reader referred to this character, I had to figure out if it was just that one person or multiple people. It was extremely distracting from the story.

I want to blame the writer, but I know why he did it. He wants to help make gender neutrality more acceptable to the general public. He wants us to get used to it. It’s a noble goal. But it drives some of us nuts. I would definitely have enjoyed the book more — with a lot less distraction — if he stuck to standard pronoun usage for his characters. Hell, he already had two lesbian couples in the book. How much did he need to support gender issues in what was basically a science fiction drama?

And now I know folks are going to step forward here and comment that we’ve been using “they” to refer to singular unspecified gender individuals for years and that it’s in the dictionary or that it’s in some widely used style guide. But it’s only been in common usage for people who don’t want a specific gender identity for a short while now. And I’ve been reading and writing for more than 50 years. It’s not as if I can flip a switch in my brain and it all works out fine for me. “They” refers to more than one person in my brain and most of the brains out there.

Clearly, we need a new set of singular pronouns. Can we fix this please?


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11 thoughts on “Pronoun Woes

  1. When I read the graphic novel “Gender Queer” they discussed the Spivak pronouns as an alternative.Not sure it’s much better and pretty sure it won’t catch on.

  2. I agree with Barbara, the Spivak formula is unlikely to catch on.
    The aim of these changes is probably laudable but they do grate.
    In cricket the gender neutral term for batsmen is now “batters”. This avoids the need for “batswoman” in womens’ cricket but seems very strange to me.

  3. I agree, as a non-native I too stop, go back a couple of sentences to try to find out where I missed a person. I flatly refuse to use “they” as a singular pronoun, but tend to say “it” like we do about babies and small animals.

  4. Is it just me, or are my observations correct that those pulling the “impugned” lever are the very ones with a NEED to present all this as a necessary change regrading how THEY are seen?

  5. I have also been adjusting to this use of they/them. I struggled at first but then, if a little word can make someone feel more comfortable, I can be kind and accommodate. I read a book using ze/zer and it was jarring, too. Anything new can be, I suppose.
    Then I realized improper use of plural pronoun has been going on a lot longer- back 30 yrs ago when I was having babies, my hubby would tell people “we” are pregnant.
    Sure we are, sweetie. ;)

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