They/Them

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In "who left their bag here"'s case, the gender of the person is not known because their identity isn't known, so it doesn't feel strange to use (for us old farts). It can take some effort to retrain your brain to use "they" when it's a single person whose identity is known (speaking from experience as a Gen Xer).

Or the person might just be a transphobic asshole. But I like to think that most just need to educate themselves on using pronouns correctly.

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So you're going to refer to John by John's name exclusively? Sounds a bit awkward, but okay.

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In my language everything little word is gendered so everything you talk about is bound by it. It's extremely confusing thinking or understanding how to describe something in terms "non-gendered".

I really am supportive of all the changes needed in the world, but the use of "they" is very confusing in a singular form for people who don't have it as first language and concepts and everything was learned by mapping stuff to other language, so please invent some word for it and go with it. It's already strange and always difficult understanding the usage of "you" in singular vs plural and formal or not speech.

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I had heard that "you" was originally "thou", and the plural was "thee". But people used a character called "thorn" to write the "th" in "thou", and it ended up looking like this: þou. But eventually the þ got substituted with "y", due to some printing press shenanigans. So, "you" was singular and "ye" was plural.

The wikipedia on "you" didn't completely answer the question, either.

doctorskull

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As the comic shows, "they" ("their," in this case) was already used as a singular when the gender was unknown. The only change is it's now also used if the person's gender is known and isn't "he" or "she."

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Thou was singular subject and thee was singular object.

Thou, Thee, Thy, Thine & Ye: Meanings & Usage

In works of old, high-fantasy or historic fiction one may have chanced across the strange words: thou, thee, thy, thine and ye. Whilst mos...

(activeenglishcee.blogspot.com)

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That's something I wonder about as a non native speaker: it's singular they but verbs are still plural (they are, not *they is, they comes). Maybe this will change some day, maybe not. Singular s might die out anyway or maybe because of singular they.

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What is "JK" referencing to?

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Yesn't. Actually no.

The singular was thou for subject and thee for object and the plural was ye/you. In formal speech the plural was used and the subject pronoun was replaced by the object but I can't tell you in which order.

The þ-thing didn't effect the pronoun but some surnames and the article. I think some pubs have names like "ye old". They used to be "þe(=the) old" and have nothing to do with þe old pronoun, even tho it is written the same.

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That comment did not imply any of this in the least

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Hey I remember a Hank Green video about this. I suffer from time to time with not being able to burp either, so I tried to remember this. Basically, botox injections are found to help for not burping, I think a specific variety, where a muscle is not working right. I think it's more in the testing phase, but maybe, you too could burp someday!

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Don't blame native speakers that your textbook is outdated

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God rest ye merry gentleman is the "ye" example I like to think of.

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I'm tired of calling John, John, every time I refer to Join, but I wasn't paying attention to John's pronouns, so now I'm stuck until I have a chance to ask John, when I next see John.

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Or you could just use "they." Convenient!

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Calling people what they ask to be called just doesn't have to be this difficult.

And yes, his royal lordship Starn, the majestic, that goes for you, too. It's fine. We're cool with your chosen name. And I admit, the opera cape absolutely works for you.

And I don't need to know what genitalia most other people are rocking. That's none of my business, unless we're really into each-other, in a very intimate way.

It takes all my willpower not to be get pretty inappropriate every time a government form asks my birth sex:

"Oh! We just met at this office of motor vehicles...I didn't know you felt that way about me! This is so much to process. I admit there's a mutual attraction. Of course I feel it too. I'm delighted that you had a special form made up to ask! I'm flattered! Want to grab dinner, and see where this goes?"

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Yeah. And Y'all also used to be plural. Now it can be singular and we use All Y'all to clarify when we need people to know we mean plural. Language is bonkers.

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I've never understood the hatred. It's nonsensical.

It's just basic respect and courtesy to call someone what they want to be called.

If someone wants to identify as a tuna melt with "it" pronouns, I will do that. It doesn't make my life harder, and it seems important to them.

Just so long as I'm not expected to know what to call them telepathically before they've told me.

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Remember when we just conversed like human beings and didn't have all this convoluted nonsense about worrying over pronouns?

If the person is called John, 99.9% of the time, you know what the pronouns would be, because not everyone is terminally online.