The Awkward Case of "His or Her" - Merriam-Webster Ask the Editor

[rel2082]

Thanks Velma!



[ChazMyTube]

Emily Brewster is right, although for the most part she seems to be mixing formal and informal contexts for using pronouns, as well as dangling of prepositions in her examples.

This one exemplifies a particularly extraneous dangling preposition, since it is also redundant, and the dangling [in] can be completely eliminated ~

See at 1:32 ~ "in whatever situation he or she finds himself or herself [in]" (yikes?)

The first [in] sounds right and it even sounds better without the second [in]?

[Varoonmg]

Well she again proves that Intelligence does make men and women look sexy....

Coming from a Gay Man...:)

[timoteodeldesierto]

For God's sake, don't mix gender and number with your pronouns and antecedents. You can always recast the sentence. Again: you can always, always recast the sentence.

[manofoss]

We have the same issue in Norwegian. Finish, however, has from what I understand only one gender neutral word encompassing both 'him' and 'her'. Perhaps we of the Germanic languages ought take a lesson from the Finish-Ugric languages and adopt a third gender neutral singular word and avoid all this confusion all together.

[matprithellodave]

If you think about the words like "yourself", and "myself", then does it not logically follow that "himself", should actually be "hisself"? I have always thought that.

[Holdenon3]

I find that the gender-neutral term "shmuck" works in all cases.

"Every shmuck should do the shmuck's best in every situation shmucks find shmucks in."

Also, the plural vs. singular issues easily work themselves out.

Or would that be "its selves"?

[thatusernameisunavai]

Wife her.

[phroto13]

seriously want to kiss you for this

[vexis58]

What is the proper gender neutral way to say "himself"? Using "themselves" to refer to a singular person just feels wrong, but my only alternative is to say "themself", which my brain insists is not a real word.

[fossilet]

You are charming Emily Brewster!

[InForObservation]

I'm sensing a theme in Ms. Brewster's recent videos. 18th Century grammarians appear to constitute her least favorite group of people, and these videos seem to be her way of posthumously hunting them down and destroying them. ;)

Somebody get this lady a time machine so she can go back and give those Enlightenment-era meddlers a piece of her mind!

[joshuasegall]

Another life-changing video from M-W! I've always found the "his or her" construction to be overly prescriptive.

[BeastOfTraal]

I think saying "His or Her" is way a to say "Hey everybody I'm not gender biased"

[URIBENFILM]

Smart girl with glasses equals sexy.

[Octamed]

Is there a way of describing a baby of unknown sex? For example 'What are you going to name...' it? them? Neither sounds right or just sound very cold.

[lenobj]

@Octamed You can always go the "safe/lazy way" and add "the baby" at the end of that sentence. lol

[GirlCraft]

@Octamed What are you going to name the baby?

[stophthecomputerwiz]

@Octamed Another solution is "Have you picked out a name?"