(no subject)
I was speaking with a friend today, who is planning a backpacking trip in Yosemite this summer with a friend of unspecified gender, when I asked "Are they an experienced backpacker?" I caught myself immediately after saying this, but then realized that I hear this usage pretty commonly. I suppose this is used in place of saying "Is he or she an experienced backpacker?", and for lack of a third person singular pronoun with an unspecified gender that can apply to people... but why use the third person plural instead? I would just consider this a "think-o" (to quote Geoffrey Nunberg) of mine, except I hear it all the time in colloquial use. I do hope someone else here has heard of this usage as well... Is this common anywhere else? (I'm in southern Arizona, by the way). And if so, what exactly is going on here?