So I go a pretty liberal college in a liberal area so every time we introduce ourselves in clubs or in most small classes, we go around with our names and preferred pronouns. I've met several individuals who alongside using she/her/hers or he/his/him, they use they/them/theirs. Can anyone explain this to me?
Since not everyone has a sex-gender agreement, and some people are even intersex, it's only polite to make sure we refer to people by what they wish to be called according to their gender. Also, some people identify with neither the male nor the female gender, so they may prefer the more neutral pronouns of "they, them, their's, &c."
I don't know if I worded my question correctly. When asked, people say (for example) "I use she/her/hers and they/them/theirs" I'm just wondering about the double pronoun use.
I would ask the people that say this. Some could mean that they are ok with having she/her or they/them used, or they could flip back and forth between the two.
This begs a question, wouldn't using they/them cause confusion? Not that it's impossible to avoid confusion, but still... Also, I wish for a neutral pronoun that might actually sound "natural". Closest I can think of is at this moment. Gee - Gis - Geeself or Nee - Nis - Niself Oh well, I guess the English language doesn't seem to please me well enough in this area. Edit: I read the Spivak(old) pronoun and it actually sounds pretty damn natural. Finally, I believe my search for a natural sounding gender-neutral pronoun is over.
Singular usage of "they" is becoming increasingly popular. I don't really want to use a made up one. They sound stupid, and it's bad form (grammar) to use them. Anyways, those people are more flexible. They don't mind either one. Granted, I've never met anyone like that, but, to each their own, right?
