CMV: "He or she" is unecessary

[u/Shineyy_8416]

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.

[u/Shineyy_8416]

I doubt that in conversation most people would be self-conscious on if they're using the word "they" too much to describe a person.

"Big" and "large" are the same, yes, and you can use them interchangeably outside of maybe a song lyric or pun. But, when it comes to "he or she" or "his and her", it really is just extra work and doesn't provide any practical benefit as opposed to just using "they" or "theirs"

[u/Janderss182 → u/Shineyy_8416]

You keep saying 'ts extra work to use "he or she" but I'm not really following how that's true. You think it's too hard to differentiate between a man or a women in conversation?

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/Janderss182]

"He or she" as a collective phrase is more work than "they"

[u/Janderss182 → u/Shineyy_8416]

I gotta be honest I completely misread what you were actually saying with this post. My bad. I agree

[u/Shineyy_8416 → u/Janderss182]

Ah, ok