I can be a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to English grammar. The growing use of apostrophes before the "s" in plural nouns sets my teeth on edge. I insist that "literally" literally means "literally," lest it mean nothing at all. And "the media" ain't singular. ("The opera," however, is, unless you're discussing someone's entire body of work.)
I am willing to yield somewhat to the people who want to be referred to in the third person as "they" or "them," but I often find it confusing. Is they or aren't they? Should the reflexive pronoun be "themselves" or "themself"? Or do they truly contain multitudes?
The Week magazine (February 10 issue) had an interesting review of the latest album by nonbinary recording artist Sam Smith. Throughout the entire article weighing in at over 160 words, whoever wrote it carefully avoided referring to them with any third-person pronouns even once.
So that's one way of dealing with it.
Spoken language is not static but dynamic. If you don't believe that, try listening to a conversation among the Amish. Or go read some Shakespeare (who is known to have employed they/them pronouns on some singular occasions, by the way).
Still, it would be helpful if nonbinary people weren't leaving the entire onus (or onera) of remembering how many people they are on the rest of us. Meet us halfway, all right?
Would it have ruined Smith's album if their opening song were "Love Us More"?
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