Archive Blog Cast Forum RSS Books! Poll Results About Search Fan Art Podcast More Stuff Random Support on Patreon |
New comics Mon-Fri; reruns Sat-Sun
|
1 {scene: Head Death's desk}
1 Head Death: That's it. I've had it up to here with these shenanigans that end up with us having to send people back to life.
2 Head Death: {on phone} Put the word out. The next person who dies, anywhere, I want them processed instantly. No interaction. No second chance.
3 Head Death: {on phone} What?
4 Head Death: {on phone} I'm the head of a multiverse-spanning supernatural organisation! I can use whatever third person pronoun I like!
First (1) | Previous (1768) | Next (1770) || Latest Rerun (2652) |
Latest New (5303) First 5 | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Latest 5 Death theme: First | Previous | Next | Latest || First 5 | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Latest 5 This strip's permanent URL: http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1769.html
Annotations off: turn on
Annotations on: turn off
|
Some people reading this comic would have flinched at the sentence:
The next person who dies, anywhere, I want them processed instantly.Others would have passed silently by it with nary a thought about the grammar.
The issue here is about the word "them", which is usually defined as the plural accusative third person pronoun in English. Most English speakers have an intrinsic sense that words such as "they" and "them" refer to multiple people, not a single person.
The problem here is that if you want to refer to a single person, the only other widely accepted third person pronouns we have in English are "he", "she", and "it" (or "him", "her", and "it" in the accusative form). So you can either refer to this unknown person as a he, a she, or an it.
Referring to people as "it" is pretty much universally frowned upon. As is referring to a female as "he" or a male as "she".
So if it is not known if the person in question is male or female, or the speaker does not wish to identify if the person in question is male or female, what is one to do?
In this age of struggles for equality and against discrimination, this is not a simple question, and many people have strongly held opinions about such issues. The possible solutions fall into four categories:
The only thing wrong with using "they" as a singular third person pronoun is that some people consider it to be poor grammar. Compared to all the other issues with the alternatives, why is there even still a question about this?
The good thing is that common English usage seems to be heading in the direction towards full acceptance of "they" as a singular neutral pronoun. Lots of people use it this way already. More will do so over the next few decades. Everyone understands it. The trend is already here. Eventually the current generation of grammar prescriptivists will die out and we'll finally have the solution we can all live with.
Further reading:
LEGO® is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group of companies,
which does not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this site. This material is presented in accordance with the LEGO® Fair Play Guidelines. |