Small Talk: Billions and Billions

[Meredith Quill]

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[PrincessPurrsALot]

21 hours ago, Lemons said:

I understand the reason but there needs to be a new word.  It’s awkward to say “they is in the other room”.    Or when the person’s name is switched to “they” you think that the person is now speaking about several people.  I understand the reason but there needs to be a new word.  It’s awkward to say “they is in the other room”.    Or when the person’s name is switched to “they” you think that the person is now speaking about several people.  

I loved seeing Taylor act less like a machine and actually happy.  

Even when using the singular they, we don't say "they is"; we say "they are".  We actually already do that naturally in English when we don't know someone's gender.

Person 1: Jim's friend Chris stopped by. 

Person 2: Are they still there?

 

There are other options that have been suggested for non-binary persons.  Instead of he, him or she, her people have suggested xe,  xem or ze/zie, zir.  Language changes over time, but we all have to agree.  At one point thou was singular and you was plural.  We don't hear a lot of people saying "Is thou coming to dinner?" 

[Lemons]

1 hour ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Even when using the singular they, we don't say "they is"; we say "they are".  We actually already do that naturally in English when we don't know someone's gender.

Person 1: Jim's friend Chris stopped by. 

Person 2: Are they still there?

 

There are other options that have been suggested for non-binary persons.  Instead of he, him or she, her people have suggested xe,  xem or ze/zie, zir.  Language changes over time, but we all have to agree.  At one point thou was singular and you was plural.  We don't hear a lot of people saying "Is thou coming to dinner?" 

That’s not singular.  When person 2 asked if if they were still there he meant both of them.  If he only wanted to know if Jim’s friend was still there he would have asked if he was still here.  That’s where the confusion would come.  If Chris referred to himself as they and someone asked if they were still there it would not be clear if the person wanted to know about both of them or just Chris was still there. 

Someone has to come up with something.  As you stated, the language changes as time progresses.  It shouldn’t be too difficult.  Although I don’t know who gets to decide,

[PrincessPurrsALot]

To my mind they were asking if Jim's friend Chris was still there, so one person.  Jim wasn't there, just his friend.  Quoting myself from notes I just write in a meeting, "Possibly switch business process to have clerk tag item as billable as they enter it".  I am only speaking about one clerk but instead of saying he, she or he/she, I used they since I am not specifying the gender of the clerk. 

I do think we use they in a singular fairly often without considering it.  They use of they as a direct replacement for he or she when speaking of one person at all times feels awkward.  Much of that is because we have to think about it. When it is already natural to common speech patterns, we don't notice as much. 

I don't know who gets to decide these things either.  Language tends to progress over time.  I am in my 50s.  Many words have been created or added back to common usage, potentially with a different meaning than was originally assigned, during my lifetime.  An example of the latter is orientated.  For the former, the cringe-inducing conversated. 

[misstwpherecool]

Is Billions too gangsterish? What ever happened to unsavory, unethical and illegal business practices.