Late in 2019, the editors at Merriam-Webster chose "they" as their word of the year. The purpose was grammatical and sociocultural.
On the grammar side, "they" and, by extension, "their" and "them" can be used to be less specific about a person you're speaking about.
The teacher said, "I want everyone to take out their history book."
If I were editing a story with this sentence, I likely would have taken the quote out and rewritten the intent:
"The teacher asked the students to take out their history books."
The Associated Press Stylebook urges rewriting of such a sentence when possible.
Why? Because "everyone" is singular and "their" is plural, and the subject and verb should agree.
You could use the slightly clunky "he or she," and I have done so innumerable times:
"The teacher said everyone should take out his or her history book."
But doing this more than a couple of times in a paragraph or two isn't the best.
The AP Stylebook, which provides guidelines for newspaper writers and editors, has yielded a bit on strict rules of singular versus plural. It says the singular "they" might be used to hide the gender of the person speaking, if necessary.
"The whistleblower chose not to provide their testimony."
"I received a phone call from someone we both know. They said you stopped by McDonald's on your way home. Where's my cheeseburger?"
Another reason Merriam-Webster has revisited "they" is because of a cultural and social shift. The editors noted that people looked up the word 300 times more often in 2019 than in 2018. The reason, they surmised, is that more and more people prefer to identify as gender-neutral. They don't want to be referred to as "he" or "she." They are "they."
The dictionary editors said, "More recently ... they has also been used to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary, a sense that is increasingly common in published, edited text, as well as social media and in daily personal interactions between English speakers."
The American Psychological Association's Stylebook, APA Style, gave its approval to "they" in its most recent edition. This means it's OK to use the singular "they" in scholarly writing for the association. A blog post on the matter said, "APA advocated for the singular 'they' because it is inclusive of all people and helps writers avoid making assumptions about gender."
You might find that people include in their email tagline "she/her/hers" or "he/him/his." It might also include "they/them/theirs." This is to help others learn how they should be referred to.
Alas, I'm not at all up-to-date on the fashion world. In researching this topic, I learned that Oslo Grace is an American model who captured some headlines last year by wanting to be referred to as "they." Dazed magazine described the model: "Oslo Grace is the trans nonbinary model making waves in fashion with their unique, androgynous look."
And British singer Sam Smith last year announced on Instagram, "Today is a good day so here goes. I've decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM."
Smith added, "After a lifetime of being at war with my gender, I've decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out."
The AP Stylebook hasn't completely given in on the social use of "they." The editors say, "Clarity is a top priority; gender-neutral use of a singular they is unfamiliar to many readers."
A New York Times article on the "they" news cited an interesting fact from Pew Research on the issue.
"Over a third of Americans in their teens and early 20s know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns, according to a Pew Research survey. That is double the number of those in their 40s, and triple those in their 50s and 60s."
Still, The AP Stylebook continues to put restrictions on its usage.
"They/them/their is acceptable in limited cases as a singular and/or gender-neutral pronoun when alternative wording is overly awkward or clumsy. However, rewording usually is possible and always is preferable."
Merriam-Webster is doing a good job of recognizing language changes in real time. Peter Sokolowski, an editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster, said, "As a word lover, what's interesting in this story is to see that social factors play so directly into language change. That is something that we sort of know intuitively, but we don't often see it as clearly as we see it here."
PLED, AT LONG LAST
Many lawyers over the years have asked me why the heck newspapers always used "pleaded" instead of "pled" in articles about court cases. The AP Stylebook had always been why we used "pleaded." But The Associated Press makes occasional updates to the style guidelines. I am pleased to report that in a Dec. 11 email, the AP Stylebook editors announced that they no longer oppose the use of "pled."
Lawyers, rejoice.
UNIQUE
I have written about "unique" a few times, and I still regularly get requests to explain it.
"Unique" means one of a kind. Only one like it can be found in the universe. It is unequaled.
Because of all these exclusionary definitions, something unique cannot be "sort of unique" or "very unique." Something can't be "wickedly unique" or "fabulously unique." Unique stands alone. Like the cheese. Hi ho.
Sources include The AP Stylebook, Merriam-Webster, APA Style, CNN, Dazed. Reach Bernadette at
bkwordmonger@gmail.com
Style on 01/06/2020