Talking to parents of non-binary kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The good news is "they" is a rather innocuous pronoun and people would talk that way without all the recent fuss by kids seeking attention.

Um no. Not when referring to a single person, “they” is not grammatically incorrect and not natural. I try my best to use what people prefer, but it sounds very odd and takes conscience effort

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The good news is "they" is a rather innocuous pronoun and people would talk that way without all the recent fuss by kids seeking attention.

People have been talking that way...read some Byron, Jane Austen, Chaucer and Shakespeare (among others). In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary traces singular use of "they" back to 1375. And since usage in speech typically comes about before things are written down, it's probably even older than that.

Merriam Webster included it in the dictionary and it's now even correct in modern scholarly writing, since the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association endorses it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The good news is "they" is a rather innocuous pronoun and people would talk that way without all the recent fuss by kids seeking attention.

People have been talking that way...read some Byron, Jane Austen, Chaucer and Shakespeare (among others). In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary traces singular use of "they" back to 1375. And since usage in speech typically comes about before things are written down, it's probably even older than that.

Merriam Webster included it in the dictionary and it's now even correct in modern scholarly writing, since the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association endorses it.

Of course they do - the demographic running both of those outfits is on any Hot Leftist Trend like white on rice.

[Anonymous]

I have a college aged child who just came out as non-binary. I try to use “they” but honestly, it’s so engrained after 19 years that I sometimes slip. They forgive me.