• PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPMEnglish
    4·
    8 days ago

    … why?

    Is that any more absurd than “reducing males to he/him” or “reducing females to she/her”?

    It’s language, not a campaign medal. You don’t need a separate example for every instance.

    • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nzEnglish
      5·
      8 days ago

      The whole point of pronouns, I would argue, is to not need a separate set for every instance.

      Otherwise you may as well just use Dan/Dan/Dan’s/Danself conjugated for each name.

      Pronouns:

      • Are (generally) shorter than names, because there’s less need for them to be unique and they’re used more frequently.

      • Can be used even when you don’t know specifics about a person or object, or they don’t want to give out their name.

      • Everyone knows how to conjugate them, so once you know someone is a ‘they’, you can readily extrapolate to them, their, theirs.