To automate Spanish verb conjugation with Java code I created variables to hold the gamut of subject pronouns available to English and Spanish. Here were the varieties of “you”:
String youS = null; // “you” singular familiar = “tú”
String YouS = null; //“you” singular polite = “usted”
String youP = null; // “you” plural familiar = “vosotros/as”
String YouP = null; // “you” plural polite = “ustedes”
Note the use of uppercase ‘Y’ for the Spanish polite forms. This suggests to me a way to handle “they” as it’s often used in contemporary discourse. Consider the following passage (my bolding):
You could say that CAConrad’s practice is a form of magical studies, a practice in dialog with the ineffable. As a poet, they enact the role of Magician and HIgh Priestess at once… These were the representational figures Conrad drew in a Tarot reading I gave them as they embarked on writing While Standing in Line for Death (2017), a book they wrote when they turned to writing and ritual to cure their depression after the murder of their boyfriend Earth.
(Hoa Nguyen, “On CAConrad: Pan-Dimensional Change Agent in Vibratory Communion,” Poetry, April 2023)
Every instance of they-them-their in the passage refers to one person. Merely capitalizing the forms (as done traditionally with “I”) could let them enact their plural essence when context smiled. Reimagine the passage as reflecting a partnership:
You could say that CAConrad’s and JMNerd’s practice is a form of magical studies, a practice in dialog with the ineffable. As poets, They enact the role of Magician and HIgh Priestess at once… These were the representational figures Conrad and Nerd drew in a Tarot reading I gave Them as They embarked on writing While Standing in Line for Death (2017), a book They wrote when They turned to writing and ritual to cure Their depression after the murder of Their friend Earth.
Is there a chance my solution will be adopted? Not a ghost of one; however, blasting it into the ether is intensely satisfying — like a dialog with the ineffable.
(c) JNN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
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Wow! I think this is a very neat way to fix the ‘they’ predicament Jim! How clever of you. It works really well and you never know, if the LGBTIQ+++ community took it up the way the Women’s Lib women took up “Ms” it will become quite natural.
Sue
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Thank you, Sue! I like your word “predicament.” I keep feeling discomfort with singular “they,” yet try to treat my feelings on the matter semi-seriously. No one needs me as arbiter of how they choose to be presented. Your mention of “Ms” is quite pertinent — I hadn’t thought of that. Only recently I’ve encountered “Mx” in a serious journal! That one took me by surprise. I wonder if it will gain comparable currency over time? All of these novel usages take hold only if masses of users change their language habits, which usually takes time. Regards to you as always — Jim
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I haven’t seen ‘Mx’ yet – what does it signify?
I had another thought on using an upper case ‘T’ in They – it does have a biblical feel about it to me. Back to ‘Thou’ again! But as you say once a word is adopted by many it changes its associations. We have happily adopted the use of ‘Chairperson’ or ‘Chair’ rather than ‘Chairman’ in Australia. Is it the same in the US?
Best wishes Sue
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You ask a good question, Sue, the more I think of it. I looked back at my previous post to see the context again. https://ethicaldative.com/2023/03/08/gender-reveal-vagary/ “Mx. Riesman is a journalist and the author of a biography of Vince McMahon.” I took it to be another means of concealing gender, the same as singular “they,” but the effect was diluted when the journalist was referred to as “she” shortly afterwards. I’ve not seen “Mx” since. It remains to be seen what its future may be! I’m chuckling at your mention of the “biblical feel” of ‘They.’ That’s a good catch. I regret the loss of ‘thou’ for familiar second-person address. It has forced us Texans to say ‘ya’ll’ to groups. Yes, “chairman” has fallen away in certain circles here, too, though conservatives tend to stick to their guns and cling to gendered usage. Better dead than “woke” for them. Is that term being vilified and distorted in Australia as here and in the UK?
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Yes ‘woke’ has been adopted by rightwing politicians here as a pejorative term – it’s very silly when you know where it originated. But that doesn’t stop them using it along with ‘the chardonnay set’ and ‘Canberra academics’ etc. The right wingers are very hateful right now as we have a referendum coming up hoping to give indigenous Australians a ‘Voice’ to parliament and executive government on issues that affect them, and they don’t like that at all.
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Interesting details you provide, Sue. Same here, and same in UK. It doesn’t escape notice that Rupert Murdoch has a large media profile in all these anglophone domains!
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