3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2013–2015score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters link it as a short, friendly explanation of singular they and grammatical gender in discussions of pronoun usage.
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.
“Tom Scott has a great video on grammatical gender that is worth a watch” (HN, 2013)
> 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]
Problems with gendered pronouns and singular they.
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