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A comment on Ask HN: Considering leaving my job at a startup? What should I consider?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Considering leaving my job at a startup? What sho... by bobbykjack on Sunday December 21, 2014 @01:28PM (#8780452)
And many of us object to that male default. About the first thing I learnt at any serious level of linguistics teaching is that language does not stand still, it evolves. It would be trivial to say "did they say they were in the bay area" in this instance.
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Re:Ask HN: Considering leaving my job at a startup? What sho... by byoung2 on Sunday December 21, 2014 @07:45PM (#8781474)
Using "they" would be grammatically incorrect since the subject is singular. To be politically and grammatically correct I could have gone with "he/she" or "the OP" but statistics and history are on my side with "he" knowing the demographics on this site.
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Re:Ask HN: Considering leaving my job at a startup? What sho... by radq on Sunday December 21, 2014 @10:14PM (#8781803)
"They" can be and is commonly used as a gender-neutral singular.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

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Re:Ask HN: Considering leaving my job at a startup? What sho... by byoung2 on Monday December 22, 2014 @10:47AM (#8783467)
In the acceptability section of that Wikipedia article, most style guides reject singular they usage.
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