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Transphobes are doxxing Stardew Valley fans after they asked the game developer for pronouns (lemmy.ca)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/26/stardew-valley-transphobes-doxxing/

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

https://www.englishgratis.com/1/wikibooks/english/singularthey.htm

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend — Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3, 1594

'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother, since nature makes them partial, should o'erhear the speech. — Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene 3, 1600–1602

So lyke wyse shall my hevenly father do vnto you except ye forgeve with youre hertes eache one to his brother their treaspases. — Tyndale's Bible, 1526

All of these are centuries old, and each of them know the gender of whom they speak of. You are incorrect. Please update your knowledge and don't correct someone for something you didn't at least look up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, those examples are precisely what I mean. The article you linked to explains exactly what I mean, even stating that Shakespeare wouldn't have used "they" if he knew the gender of the person he referred to.

The referents in these cases are general, not specific people. "Not a man" - no one, not referring to a specific person. "Some more audience than a mother" - someone else than a mother, not a specific person. "Each one" - not a specific person but every person.

If you look at dictionary definitions over the centuries, you'll find singular they mentioned, but always specifically for this general meaning.

As an added note I don't think it makes a difference if the current use is new or not, and it shouldn't matter in this debate. Language changes all the time, even if people resist it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lol, they just had the exact same argument with me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah, it's silly. I think the whole linguistic discussion is irrelevant. It's a new phenomenon, which is great. I love how language evolves.

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