What If We All Used “They”?

by Nadine Hoover
Buffalo Meeting

Many people find it difficult to use “they” for a singular person. 

The pronoun “you,” reserved for aristocracy, was originally plural. When people overcame the rule of monarchs, they used the plural term “you” for everyone, rather than reverting to the singular term “thee" for the aristocracy. Using the plural “you” as a singular pronoun for everyone was an act of justice. 

Today, we are overcoming sexism and removing male terminology as an inferred reference to everyone. In English, I prefer the term Spirit, specifically because it has no gender. I have no problem with the word God in other languages — Allah, Tuhan, etc — when the word has no gender. Using the plural “they” as a singular pronoun for everyone could also be an act of justice. 

What if we all used “they’? We could drop the male/female pronouns of “she" and “he” altogether and focus on the content of what’s going on rather than the gender.