After seeing this on Tumblr I've seen everything

[ButterflyBlood]

What the fuck? Do people seriously insist on these type of cringe worthy pronouns?

[edgineered]

1. I think it is easy to miss the point on this one

Look at the side of the box - the words are the third person pronouns in other languages. For example, in Chinese the word ta can be either he or she.

[ButterflyBlood]

3. Then why are they being used in English sentences?

Even borrowing such words doesn't make much sense here since it even admits a gender neutral one exists (they).

[edgineered]

4. Because too many people miss the point. nt

[Skittles]

26. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

[sufrommich]

2. Language changes. I'm old enough to remember when

"Ms." as a term for a woman who didn't want to be identified by her marital status was scoffed at and called ridiculous.Now it's so commonplace as to be the norm instead of the exception.

[Squinch]

6. Yep. And it was only after Ms. replaced Mrs. or Miss that most women came to understand how

much of their identity had previously been tied to their marital status.

The pronoun thing is definitely something that many of our friends will call a "first world problem" but I bet this catches on.

[Skittles]

27. I've tried to explain this to the asshole MRS. CLINTON crowd

SERIOUS ASSHOLES

[Squinch]

33. Yes, but they don't need to have it explained to them. They know exactly what they are doing.

How you doing, Skittles? I haven't seen you much for a bit.

[Skittles]

34. yeah I know

hey, I am around, but I sleep during the day

[Squinch]

35. Ah. That may be why I am missing you!

[awoke_in_2003]

7. I can understand why some would want a neutral pronoun

But 3 or more? What is the point- so there is more of a chance for someone to get offended because I used the "wrong"' neutral pronoun?

[hunter]

8. If someone doesn't like the pronoun you use, ask them which one they prefer.

Otherwise it's like shortening or otherwise modifying someone's name who doesn't want their name modified.

Anyways, there's no need for language or gender police. Life's not a high school grammar exam, or an Olympic sporting event where athletes are invasively tested for drugs too.

People are going to assume you are simply being an ass when you demand a "he" or a "she" if they've already asked you a few times to stop.

The first women who went by "Ms." and refused to accept demands for "Mrs." or "Miss" made the world a better place.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. I don't have a problem with the idea of a neutral...

just the need for multiple neutrals.

[hunter]

10. It will work itself out.

Language evolves. You never go wrong asking people which names they prefer to go by.

[awoke_in_2003]

12. Well, today it is 3 neutrals

Will it be six in two more years, and 9 in five? Where does it end?

[hunter]

13. It ends in a terrifying pronoun anarchy and ultimately...

... the extinction of all pronouns but the letter "t."

[awoke_in_2003]

16. I could live with that

much easier to remember.

[bhikkhu]

11. Personally I don't care what pronoun is used for me

but I think its great that young people are really thinking about the language they use. Language guides perception, and consciously deciding to change one's perceptions to accommodate the feelings of others is an admirable effort of mindfulness.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. I'm so old school.

I really hate "they," "them" or "their" being used to refer to one individual. A neutral pronoun is probably a good idea as the slash words (he/she) are cumbersome and using a plural pronoun to describe a singular person is just wrong.

[Odin2005]

23. Singular they has been in use since Chaucer.

This is probably because of the collapse of grammatical gender in nouns in English, English's current situation of only having gender in it's pronouns is very rare when compared across all languages and this suggests that pronoun only gender is linguistically unstable in the long term. I suspect that singular "they" will completely replace he/she over the next few centuries, leaving a much more stable animate (they) vs. inanimate (it) distinction.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. I guess I'm not quite THAT old school.

LOL. I'm old, but...CHAUCER?!

I'm also stuck on two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence. It's hard to unlearn things that were so drilled into my head in my youth.

[Scootaloo]

28. Depends on dialect, I suppose.

Nothing unusual about singular "they/them/their" to me

[Blue_In_AK]

31. I think it depends on the forcefulness of one's early English teachers.

And I had some forceful ones. Do they even still do sentence diagrams?

[romanic]

15. It's gotten very ridiculous.

I don't know anyone who use these so-called "gender-neutral" pronouns and I'm very active in my local LGBT community. The few MTF people I know use the feminine pronouns because that's how they identify. If I referred to them as "per" or "zie" they'd think I was having a seizure or something.

[Brickbat]

17. Amazingly enough, I'm not active in my local LGBT community and I know three people who routinely

use "zie" or "they."

[romanic]

19. Well I don't hang around special snowflakes that want attention.

That's probably why I guess. :I

[Brickbat]

20. I guess that's one way to look at it.

[Brickbat]

18. The world is a complex place, and it's marvelous to see change happen.

[marybourg]

21. I say good.

Maybe it'll end such abominations as: Me and him went to the store; They gave it to her and I; Myself and my wife are moving.

[Odin2005]

22. English already has an gender-neutral animate 3rd person pronoun, singular "they".

All the invented ones are completely unnecessary. English currently only has gender in 3rd person singular pronouns, this is extremely rare and is linguistically unstable in the long term, in a few hundred years I expect that "they" will completely replace he/she on it's own.

[StrayKat]

29. It is making a return.

Yes, it was used 500 years ago, but it fell out of favor last century.

It is definitely back in play now though. I don't think it will take hundreds of years to be universally accepted as millennials already seem to use it this way without balking. The singular "they" was 2015's Word of the year for the American Dialect Society and has already been added to the Washington Post's Style Guide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/08/donald-trump-may-win-this-years-word-of-the-year/

[JHB]

25. Ok, I'll bite: what's "neautral"?

[Oneironaut]

32. "Found on Tumblr" - That's why

"They" - problem solved. The SJW on Tumblr are a little crazy, or are just bored college kids with nothing to do but armchair slacktivism.