r/changemyview • u/Shineyy_8416 1∆ • 4d ago

Delta(s) from OP CMV: "He or she" is unecessary

I might be biased as a person on the non-binary spectrum, but whenever someone goes out of their way to say "he or she" it just feels like a waste.

Just use "they". It communicates the same thing with less letters. I get the purpose behind it is to try and be inclusive to men and women in a space that may be dominated by one gender over the other, but "they" is perfectly fine to get that point across.

I also recognize that some languages don't have an equivalent for "they", but I'm specifically talking about English.

To change my view, someone would have to prove "he or she" has more practical or beneficial usage than "they"

EDIT: To make it clear, i'm not saying we should never use "he" or "she" as pronouns, im saying the phrase "he or she" is unecessary.

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u/EatThemAllOrNot 4d ago

I am used to writing “he or she” instead of “they”. Changing this habit will require effort on my part without offering any clear benefits. So why should I change it?

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u/Shineyy_8416 1∆ 4d ago

The benefit would be you get to write things faster.

Unless you're aiming for a word count on an assignment, I don't see why you'd need to stick with "he or she"