A fair number of sociologists use 'she/her' most or all of the time, when it's obvious that the reference is generic ("If the student hands in her paper on time, her grade will reflect this.")
Could just be a hoax, though. I fake some headaches, everyone gets used to poor helpless Spike. Then one day, no warning, I snap a spine, bend a head back, drain 'em dry. Brilliant.
Spike ,'Potential'
Spike's Bitches 46: Don't I get a cookie?
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - May 16, 2011 11:45:02 am PDT #21494 of 30000
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
JZ - May 16, 2011 11:48:48 am PDT #21495 of 30000
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
For the medical paperwork and studies I've helped edit (and participated in), the preferred option seems to be, for anything that could conceivably be written as a set of instructions, to do so and address the reader as "You" (entire grant proposals have had to be resubmitted because the patient bill of rights and informed consent forms were written in the third person instead of the second). Obviously it won't work for a lot of academic writing, but for mundane-world uses it's often pretty handy.
Typo Boy - May 16, 2011 11:51:48 am PDT #21496 of 30000
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
fair number of sociologists use 'she/her' most or all of the time, when it's obvious that the reference is generic ("If the student hands in her paper on time, her grade will reflect this.")
My preference. But my publisher told me to alternate.
§ ita § - May 16, 2011 12:00:13 pm PDT #21497 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
They! Their paper! Their grade! It's perfectly cromulent! I swear! I read it on the internet. No choosing, no alternating, no revelation of biases or stereotyping. Just good old not specifying.
Typo Boy - May 16, 2011 12:11:51 pm PDT #21498 of 30000
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
"They" and "Their" is great when it fits. But sometimes the sound is just too awkward for me to bear. "A good soldier takes care of their rifle" historically is perfectly good grammar if you go back far enough. And by leading edge standards is again today. But the sound just grates on me, so I use "A good soldier takes care of her rifle". No doubt as "their" and "they" becomes more standard I'll get used to it.
Ginger - May 16, 2011 12:14:40 pm PDT #21499 of 30000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Good soldiers take care of their rifles.
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - May 16, 2011 12:16:19 pm PDT #21500 of 30000
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
I agree - I hate the sound of phrases like "The student should hand in their paper on..." Making the subject plural works slightly better for me, but not as well as using a singular pronoun.
My photographer friend Andy just posted his set of photos from the wedding, and they're really beautiful. Anyone who's not sick of the sight of me yet can see a few more here [link] !
Typo Boy - May 16, 2011 12:21:55 pm PDT #21501 of 30000
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
Yeah I know about rephrasing,Ginger. But sometimes I want to say "A good soldier" and not "good soldiers".
x-post with Seska.
§ ita § - May 16, 2011 12:25:37 pm PDT #21502 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Yeah, sometimes you're just talking about one soldier. People have been using "they" like this for hundreds of years, and I don't see any magical solutions.
Typo Boy - May 16, 2011 12:30:25 pm PDT #21503 of 30000
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
Yeah dropped out of fashion for some (not very good) reasons and is now coming back into fashion. The magical solution is to get used to it, but it will take me a bit of time.