Re:Learn how to design large-scale systems
by 0xbadcafebee on Friday July 13, 2018 @10:58AM
(#17523441)
Obligatory pedantic HN grammar comment: on the outside chance that the gp's gender is not binary, the word 'they' is a good stand-in gender neutral pronoun to 'he/she'. You also have at least 14 alternatives to choose from (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Summary) and two more if you're at a Renaissance faire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_pronoun#Historica...). For the grammar snobs, this convention has existed since the 16th century.
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I wouldn't say it's obligatory, especially since the poster already was aware of not assuming gender by using "he/she" (though I know some people identify as neither of those). I do prefer singular they; it's very natural and yes, it's been around in English for a long time.
I thought I did a good thing :(
The use of their / they refering a single person doesn't come naturally to me as english is my 2nd language and we're taught its plural. (it can indeed be used as "third person plural singular" according to oxford dict.)
Since its the "least bad" (to my ears) of the gender-neutral pronouns on the wiki page I'll try to use the "they/their" instead.