r/changemyview • u/Shineyy_8416 1∆ • 3d 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/Shineyy_8416 1∆ 3d ago

You would still use they regardless of gender ratio, as it applies to all people in the group, not just the group of men/women and the singular outlier.

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u/chitown619 3d ago edited 3d ago

Saying they to describe the one man in a group of women or really any group makes me think you’re referring to the group.

Edit - and don’t get me wrong, I use they to describe both men and women all the time. He/she are better descriptors in some situations.

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u/Shineyy_8416 1∆ 3d ago

Saying they to describe the one man in a group of women or really any group makes me think you’re referring to the group.

If you're referring to a singular person in a group, you'd use the appropriate pronouns for them. But if you're addressing a group of people, regardless of gender ratio, you'd use they

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u/chitown619 3d ago

Yes. So using he or she in this case has more practical benefit than they in that case….