Pronoun chaos.

[CO. Hoosier]

78-year-old bicyclist killed after colliding with car​

HANNAH METZGER, THE DENVER GAZETTE​

The Denver Gazette​

Sep 20, 2021​

LONGMONT • A 78-year-old bicyclist is dead after they got into a crash with a car in Longmont on Saturday morning, the Longmont Police Department said.​

Police said the bicyclist and the car were both traveling east on Clover Basin Drive at around 8 a.m. when the crash occurred between Renaissance Drive and Delsarto Lane.​

The bicyclist was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, where they later died, police said. The bicyclist’s identity has not yet been released, pending the notification of their family.​

Police have not released any information about what led up to the crash or who was at fault.​

The driver of the car, an unidentified 25-year-old, stayed at the scene of the crash and is cooperating with the investigation, police said. Both the driver and bicyclist are Longmont residents.​

Police are asking witnesses or anyone with video footage of the crash to come forward to assist with the investigation. Tipsters are asked to call traffic investigator Greg Noyes at 303-774-4458.​

This headline attracted my attention because it hits very close to home. But the pronoun use is just stupid. I have no clue why we now must eliminate gender language. It has been part of every language for eons. Now a tiny fraction of people find that they can attract attention, play at being oppressed, or something by bitching about pronouns. I don’t see the argument. Even AOC bragged about being a “working woman of color”.

Men don‘t menstruate and an individual is not a “they”. Change my mind.

 

[Bulk VanderHuge]

I see thy point.

 

[IUclover]

If the bicyclist's identity hasn't been released, then what pronoun should be used?

 

[Joe_Hoopsier]

This one might actually be easier to understand, it's probably just because the Identity had not been released yet and the investigation was on going. But I do totally get what you are saying about everything else!

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

If the bicyclist's identity hasn't been released, then what pronoun should be used?

Leave the confusing plural pronoun out and write it this way:

“A 78-year-old bicyclist is dead after a crash with a car . . .”

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

They is the appropriate pronoun when referring to a person of unknown gender, and has been for hundreds of years. The Bard used it. Everyone needs to get a grip.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

They is the appropriate pronoun when referring to a person of unknown gender, and has been for hundreds of years. The Bard used it. Everyone needs to get a grip.

Do you think they say ‘“they’all” in the South to distinguish between singular “they” and plural “they”?

 

[CO. Hoosier]

If the bicyclist's identity hasn't been released, then what pronoun should be used?

The story could easily be written without pronouns. I think Hannah was just showing their wokeness.

“The bicyclist was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, and later died, police said. The bicyclist’s identity has not been released pending family notification.“

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Do you think they say ‘“they’all” in the South to distinguish between singular “they” and plural “they”?

I'd bet money they do.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

The story could easily be written without pronouns. I think Hannah was just showing their wokeness.

“The bicyclist was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, and later died, police said. The bicyclist’s identity has not been released pending family notification.“

You're looking for something to be offended by that isn't there.

 

[Circlejoe]

​

Men don‘t menstruate and an individual is not a “they”. Change my mind.

Your posting history is in conflict with your statement. Jus' sayin'.

 

[UncleMark]

Now a tiny fraction of people find that they can attract attention, play at being oppressed, or something by bitching about pronouns. I don’t see the argument. Even AOC bragged about being a “working woman of color”.

You're looking for something to be offended by that isn't there.

Like COH, I also found the article absurd as written, but am not convinced it was some "woke" bullshit as much as it was due to plain old everyday poor writing and lack of good editing.

 

[IUclover]

The story could easily be written without pronouns. I think Hannah was just showing their wokeness.

“The bicyclist was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, and later died, police said. The bicyclist’s identity has not been released pending family notification.“

I think you’re showing your cancel culture-ness.

 

[T.M.P.]

Men don‘t menstruate

You do ....

you just menstruated by writing this stupid thread.

Feeling bloated and crampy, huh...

 

[mcmurtry66]

Like COH, I also found the article absurd as written, but am not convinced it was some "woke" bullshit as much as it was due to plain old everyday poor writing and lack of good editing.

Nah too many they their. It was intentional. Would make a mess of police reports and shit lol

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Nah too many they their. It was intentional. Would make a mess of police reports and shit lol

You and COH are seeing something that isn't there, because you imagine the "woke" crowd as something other than they really are. The "woke" thing to do would be to use someone's preferred pronouns. It isn't "woke" to randomly use "they/them" in order to avoid specifying gender. The reason the author used the pronouns they did was because the gender was unknown.

 

[anon_6hv78pr714xta]

Good write up:

People Have Invented More Than 200 Gender-Neutral Pronouns. Here's Why 'They' Is Here to Stay

Future generations probably won't think twice about it

time.com

Bryan Garner is the gold-standard for American English usage. He's been predicting this for a long time.

 

[mcmurtry66]

You and COH are seeing something that isn't there, because you imagine the "woke" crowd as something other than they really are. The "woke" thing to do would be to use someone's preferred pronouns. It isn't "woke" to randomly use "they/them" in order to avoid specifying gender. The reason the author used the pronouns they did was because the gender was unknown.

Ive read probably a 100 accident reports where the gender was unknown and never seen singular they. Not once.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Good write up:

People Have Invented More Than 200 Gender-Neutral Pronouns. Here's Why 'They' Is Here to Stay

Future generations probably won't think twice about it

time.com

Bryan Garner is the gold-standard for American English usage. He's been predicting this for a long time.

Makes sense. They it is

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Ive read probably a 100 accident reports where the gender was unknown and never seen singular they. Not once.

I don't know that I've ever seen a pronoun of any kind in an accident report.

 

[anon_6hv78pr714xta]

Makes sense. They it is

I doubt I'll ever use it and will edit it out of any document I have a hand in, but the change it is a comin'

 

[mcmurtry66]

I don't know that I've ever seen a pronoun of any kind in an accident report.

For sure. Driver 1 Driver 2. Vehicle 1

 

[mcmurtry66]

I doubt I'll ever use it and will edit it out of any document I have a hand in, but the change it is a comin'

Yeah it would take a little getting used to

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

For sure. Driver 1 Driver 2 but when they do they use he.

Hmm. I haven't read a lot of traffic accident reports. I was thinking more of workplace incident reports. They seem to avoid pronouns like the plague. "EE claimed to slip on puddle and twist ankle. EE advised that pain was severe but not debilitating. EE should avoid prolonged periods of standing of more than four hours. After four hours, EE should take a seated break of at least 15 minutes." And so on.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Good write up:

People Have Invented More Than 200 Gender-Neutral Pronouns. Here's Why 'They' Is Here to Stay

Future generations probably won't think twice about it

time.com

Bryan Garner is the gold-standard for American English usage. He's been predicting this for a long time.

That's a good write-up. It's been around forever. It's just that the obnoxious grammar nazis have always highlighted it as one of their causes celebres. Sort of like ending a sentence with a preposition.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Hmm. I haven't read a lot of traffic accident reports. I was thinking more of workplace incident reports. They seem to avoid pronouns like the plague. "EE claimed to slip on puddle and twist ankle. EE advised that pain was severe but not debilitating. EE should avoid prolonged periods of standing of more than four hours. After four hours, EE should take a seated break of at least 15 minutes." And so on.

Yeah in thinking about it in accident reports they will say vehicle 1 or driver or passenger or witness. Not pronouns

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Yeah in thinking about it in accident reports they will say vehicle 1 or driver or passenger. I

Probably because of specificity. In any sort of incident report, you want every reference to be as specific as possible, even if that hurts the overall readability. Which it does. Slogging through those things is mind-numbing.

 

[Morrison]

We may as well go with Jersey slang and use “doze fu*cks”, “youse people”, “mooks”, etc. It’s better than “they” as a generic identifier!

 

[mcmurtry66]

Probably because of specificity. In any sort of incident report, you want every reference to be as specific as possible, even if that hurts the overall readability. Which it does. Slogging through those things is mind-numbing.

For sure. The old crash reports here used to have a box where fault was assigned. Contributing circumstances or something. That was great when you were running a mill. Then they revised the crash reports to remove it and you had to slog through the entire thing. Ponderous.

 

[Stuffshot]

You and COH are seeing something that isn't there, because you imagine the "woke" crowd as something other than they really are. The "woke" thing to do would be to use someone's preferred pronouns. It isn't "woke" to randomly use "they/them" in order to avoid specifying gender. The reason the author used the pronouns they did was because the gender was unknown.

Gender may have been unknown but the number was certainly known.

Pronouns aren't even needed. Your own last sentence could easily read as follows without losing anything: "The reason the author used those pronouns was because the victim's gender was unknown."

Using "they" to refer to a singular antecedent stands out as an glaring, unnecessary badge of honor from someone wanting to go out of the way to demonstrate gender neutrality. In the case of someone orher than you, such usage is more likely to come from someone who never learned grammar in the first place.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Gender may have been unknown but the number was certainly known.

Pronouns aren't even needed. Your own last sentence could easily read as follows without losing anything: "The reason the author used those pronouns was because the victim's gender was unknown."

Using "they" to refer to a singular antecedent stands out as an glaring, unnecessary badge of honor from someone wanting to go out of the way to demonstrate gender neutrality. In the case of someone orher than you, such usage is more likely to come from someone who never learned grammar in the first place.

Read Brad's link. The fact that English speakers and writers have been using the singular they since at least the 17th Century is pretty good evidence that it's not some woke attempt to "demonstrate gender neutrality."

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Read Brad's link. The fact that English speakers and writers have been using the singular they since at least the 17th Century is pretty good evidence that it's not some woke attempt to "demonstrate gender neutrality.

Nah. It’s virtue signaling. “Hey goat, how’s your mom?“. “They’s fine” is not the way normal people write or speak. How can we ever have a “he said/ she said” sexual assault case? Even Pelosi, who made a huge deal out of gender neutral language routinely speaks in terms of women’s issues and refers to herself as a grandmother. This pronoun stuff is about as genuine as celebrity mask mandates.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Nah. It’s virtue signaling. “Hey goat, how’s your mom?“. “They’s fine” is not the way normal people write or speak. How can we ever have a “he said/ she said” sexual assault case? Even Pelosi, who made a huge deal out of gender neutral language routinely speaks in terms of women’s issues and refers to herself as a grandmother. This pronoun stuff is about as genuine as celebrity mask mandates.

The article you linked isn't referring to someone's mom as "they." It is referring to an unidentified person of unspecified gender as they, which is what the singular they has always been used for.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

They is the appropriate pronoun when referring to a person of unknown gender, and has been for hundreds of years. The Bard used it. Everyone needs to get a grip.

Bull crap.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

The article you linked isn't referring to someone's mom as "they." It is referring to an unidentified person of unspecified gender as they, which is what the singular they has always been used for.

Lots of old English stuff has been obsolete for centuries. So was singular they until recently.

 

[stollcpa]

The article you linked isn't referring to someone's mom as "they." It is referring to an unidentified person of unspecified gender as they, which is what the singular they has always been used for.

The reporter didn’t do much investigation if she didn’t even know the gender of the people involved in the accident.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

I suspect Brad's link explains it. But even if it is someone choosing they, big deal. I recall reading someone long ago ranting about the evils of "hello". Guess what, we survived it. I suspect few of us close our emails with, "your humble servant". Inside almost all of our lifetimes, Billy Buckner was a world series goat for letting the ball roll though his legs. Now that would mean he was the greatest of all time.

So pronouns change, big deal. English 500 years ago is totally foreign to us today. Heck, look at the Constitution and the way the small s looks like an f. In 500 years, English will again be very foreign to what we know.et us stop pretending it is a solid, it is at best a liquid.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

The reporter didn’t do much investigation if she didn’t even know the gender of the people involved in the accident.

THEIR (!!!!) IDENTITY HADN'T BEEN RELEASED.

Good f*cking grief, you people need to take a goddamn pill or six.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Lots of old English stuff has been obsolete for centuries. So was singular they until recently.

Singular they has never been obsolete. It's been common vernacular for centuries.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Bull crap.

Read Brad's link. It's not bull crap. It's the rock solid truth.