[Public] New Pronoun.
I've decided to invent a new pronoun. The word is 'e'. It will be the third word in the English language that contains only one letter.
Why am I creating this? I think English needs a non-gender specific pronoun. For instance, a friend of mine is taking a math class, and she was talking about not understanding something. I told her to "Ask your professor after class, I'm sure they'll be willing to help". Technically "they" is wrong here - her professor is only one person, therefore the professor reequires a singular pronoun. But I don't know whether the professor is male or female. And saying "I'm sure he or she will be willing to help" is annoying.
Here, I can say: "I'm sure e would be willing to help." (In case you can't guess.. "e" rhymes with "he" and "she", making it a good choice in my opinion.)
As another example, in this paper I am writing, I am talking a lot about someone who uses my system: the user. Could be male, could be female.
"If a user notices thing A happen, the user may do thing B." This is dumb. I repeat "the user" 6 billion million times doing this. But it's equally annoying to have to type "If a user notices thing A happen, he or she may do thing B." Or he/she or s/he or (s)he or... any of those ridiculous variations. I tend to use "he" but then people call me sexist. And I think using "she" all the time is... well, I won't go there.
I want to say "If a user notices thing A happen, e may do thing B." Of course, I can't say that right NOW in this paper I plan to publish, or people will think I'm dumb. So - whenever the need arises here, I will use my new pronoun: e. And you will all know what I mean. And you should all use it too, and maybe it will catch on, and English will suck less for it. And and and and and.
Feel free to repost this if you care, but please leave a comment here first and do not take credit for my ideas.
Why am I creating this? I think English needs a non-gender specific pronoun. For instance, a friend of mine is taking a math class, and she was talking about not understanding something. I told her to "Ask your professor after class, I'm sure they'll be willing to help". Technically "they" is wrong here - her professor is only one person, therefore the professor reequires a singular pronoun. But I don't know whether the professor is male or female. And saying "I'm sure he or she will be willing to help" is annoying.
Here, I can say: "I'm sure e would be willing to help." (In case you can't guess.. "e" rhymes with "he" and "she", making it a good choice in my opinion.)
As another example, in this paper I am writing, I am talking a lot about someone who uses my system: the user. Could be male, could be female.
"If a user notices thing A happen, the user may do thing B." This is dumb. I repeat "the user" 6 billion million times doing this. But it's equally annoying to have to type "If a user notices thing A happen, he or she may do thing B." Or he/she or s/he or (s)he or... any of those ridiculous variations. I tend to use "he" but then people call me sexist. And I think using "she" all the time is... well, I won't go there.
I want to say "If a user notices thing A happen, e may do thing B." Of course, I can't say that right NOW in this paper I plan to publish, or people will think I'm dumb. So - whenever the need arises here, I will use my new pronoun: e. And you will all know what I mean. And you should all use it too, and maybe it will catch on, and English will suck less for it. And and and and and.
Feel free to repost this if you care, but please leave a comment here first and do not take credit for my ideas.