Re: USAGE: English Usage: "THEY"

Quoting Muke Tever <hotblack@...>:


> The gender of a John is likely to be known before one can make narrative
> statements about them.  Online it can be somewhat different, and one can make
> all sorts of statements about a specific named person using "they" when
> gender isn't evident.  I believe "they" can also be used for, for example,
> neuter animates like bots in chat rooms.
FWIW, IME bots are usually "it".

I do know a Chinese woman who insists on calling them "he", however.

                                                            Andreas

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