Post

I'm resurrecting my blog with something a little different: the first article I published for Copyediting newsletter back in the day (the day being October 2012). www.arrantpedantry.com/2026/10/08/t...

arrantpedantry.comThrowback Thursday: The Case for Singular TheyThe following article was originally published in Copyediting newsletter, October–November 2012 Gender-neutral language can sometimes be a problem for writers and editors, and one of the most seemi…

Jonathon Owen

@arrantpedantry.com

It's a little odd rereading this now that singular "they" has been accepted by the major style guides. At the time, I felt like I was being a little controversial, though singular "they" was definitely picking up momentum, at least among editors and writers.

8/10/26, 5:21 pm0 reposts0 likes

Jonathon Owen

@arrantpedantry.com

It's also odd to note that I didn't make any mention of nonbinary "they". I don't remember now if the issue just wasn't on my radar yet or if I felt like I didn't know enough to weigh in on the issue at that time.

Jonathon Owen

@arrantpedantry.com

But I think it's safe to say that nonbinary "they" was one of the main drivers of acceptance of singular "they" in general. Once individuals start asking to be referred to with "they"/"them" pronouns, it's hard to say that you can't do the same for people of unknown or unspecified gender.

Garrett Wollman

@gwollman.bsky.social

I have ... feelings ... about this. I would be very happy if we could just get over the hangups and consistently use "they" in any situation where gender is irrelevant or not known to the writer (which is almost all public writing).

Garrett Wollman

@gwollman.bsky.social

But we're in a place now where some people want "they" to be a *third* gender (specific to their identity), and different people want "they" to also be a third gender (derogatory othering). And this really sucks because it seems like there's no way to get the phase change I want outside of fiction.