When we’re taught writing, we learn about pronouns: “he,” “she,” “you”, and “they.”
And when I was growing up in school, “you” and “they” were the pronouns we used when we didn’t want to refer to a specific gender.
“You” was used to refer to one person, “they” referred to more than one person.
But that’s changed recently, as “they” is slowly becoming the accepted word to refer to someone in a gender-neutral way.
As I learned in the four-minute What Is Singular They? video from the Oregon State University School of Writing, Literature, and Film, there are a number of reasons for the transition.
History of English Singular Pronouns
In the past, “he” was often used to refer to anyone.
Which produced gendered language words like “businessman” and “mankind.”
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, feminists objected to the usage of the masculine. Resulting in words like “humankind” and phrasing like “he or she.”
That didn’t solve the issue, especially for people who don’t identify as male or female.
English doesn’t have a gender-neutral singular pronoun.
But in recent years, people starting using “they” in both written and spoken speech to refer to one person.
Without referring to gender.
Which is why Merriam-Webster named “they” as its Word of the Year in 2019 to recognize the change in usage.
Similar to how the meaning of decimate changed over time (It used to mean to kill one man in 10).
And as J.T. Bushnell explains in the video, how “thou,” not “you,” was the correct singular pronoun in English before the 17th century.
Transitioning from using “thou” to “you” caused a lot of controversy during that time.
Similar to discussions people have today about using “they” as a singular pronoun.
Personally, I’ve always been fascinated with how words in our language change in meaning and usage.
The movement toward using “they” is an excellent example of how English usage changes over time.
Watch the four-minute video to learn more.
