Re:Baltimore plant ruins 15M Johnson and Johnson coronavirus...
by damau on Thursday April 01, 2021 @06:05AM
(#26658525)
I have been learning Italian. Don’t slam me for this if it’s wrong I am a beginner. But there are a number of contexts in Italian to which lei (she) is used. One for polite and respectful use (such as a general in the army, regardless of gender) or if the person’s gender is unknown.
Just thought I’d throw that out there.
Re:Baltimore plant ruins 15M Johnson and Johnson coronavirus...
by manuelmoreale on Thursday April 01, 2021 @06:19AM
(#26658605)
Very formal/polite way to refer to people yes. But in Italian we also have “voi” and its use can be traced back centuries before “lei” started to be used.
But she says it was from the 18th century onwards that people started using male pronouns when describing someone of a non-specific gender in writing and this marks the time when opinions on what pronouns should be used started to change.
"You might have a sentence like 'if a student comes to see the teacher, he must bring his homework', where he is supposed to refer generically to males and females," explains Dr Emma Moore.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49754930