# gender-neutral substitute for "his or her" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 26, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725 "2007-04-26T12:55:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrw22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@mrw22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrw22)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/1 "2007-04-26T12:55:36Z")
hello Cecil … have you ever thought of using " (s)he " ?? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/2 "2007-04-26T13:21:34Z")
And how do you pronounce “(s)he”? (The column is [Is there a gender-neutral substitute for “his or her”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_245b.html)) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/3 "2007-04-26T13:26:36Z")
Incidentally, the general issue was discussed fairly recently in [Revisited: Is there a gender-neutral substitute for “his or her”?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=392679) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/4 "2007-04-26T18:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] And how do you pronounce “(s)he”? (The column is [Is there a gender-neutral substitute for “his or her”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_245b.html)) [/QUOTE] I pronouce it sh hee. The real bitch is (him)her! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/5 "2007-04-26T18:55:26Z")
On the academic boards I visit the convention seems to be hu. The usage is like this: “When hu goes to class hu needs to bring their syllabus”. It is probably (but I don’t know for certain) derived from human. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/6 "2007-04-26T19:36:57Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] And how do you pronounce “(s)he”? [/QUOTE] “Penis.” I’m probably wrong, though, as I’ve gotten some strange looks from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/7 "2007-04-26T20:13:06Z")
And all this time I thought it was pronounced throatwar… nevermind ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/8 "2007-04-26T20:50:21Z")
You have to speak Hungarian. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/9 "2007-04-26T21:38:32Z")
Pronouncing the s, the h, and the e are no trouble, but I always strain my larynx when I try to pronounce the ( and the ). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/10 "2007-04-26T21:59:42Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Pronouncing the s, the h, and the e are no trouble, but I always strain my larynx when I try to pronounce the ( and the ). [/QUOTE] That’s because you aren’t Vulcan. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/11 "2007-04-26T22:06:53Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] On the academic boards I visit the convention seems to be hu. The usage is like this: “When hu goes to class hu needs to bring **their** syllabus”. It is probably (but I don’t know for certain) derived from human. [/QUOTE] Why use the plural possessive if hu is supposed to be a gender neutral singular pronoun? You might as well create the possessive form while you’re at it- hur? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/12 "2007-04-26T22:17:55Z")
[QUOTE=Great Dave] Why use the plural possessive if hu is supposed to be a gender neutral singular pronoun? You might as well create the possessive form while you’re at it- hur? [/QUOTE] My error in sentence construction- thinking on the fly. Fine- a better example- “Sleeping with a student is something that hu should do.” 😉 Better? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/13 "2007-04-26T23:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] I pronouce it sh hee. The real bitch is (him)her! 😃 [/QUOTE] hir or hem and hu? please human is already sexist enough. It should be hupersun (it cannot be huperson because son is male). Oh, those fun times in a New England Catholic Church in the heydays of PC. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/14 "2007-04-27T00:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] hir or hem and hu? please human is already sexist enough. It should be hupersun (it cannot be huperson because son is male). Oh, those fun times in a New England Catholic Church in the heydays of PC. [/QUOTE] Yeah and a friend mine and I would say “fallopial” instead of “seminal” (as in criticallly important) in research talks we’d give. Wild, hedonistic times, they were. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/15 "2007-04-27T02:22:42Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] and hu? please human is already sexist enough. It should be hupersun (it cannot be huperson because son is male). [/QUOTE] Huperoffspring? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/16 "2007-04-28T19:07:53Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] On the academic boards I visit the convention seems to be hu. The usage is like this: “When hu goes to class hu needs to bring their syllabus”. It is probably (but I don’t know for certain) derived from human. [/QUOTE] A student going to class needs to bring the syllabus. Almost every sentence can be rewritten to exclude the false generic. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/17 "2007-04-28T19:55:19Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] A student going to class needs to bring the syllabus. Almost every sentence can be rewritten to exclude the false generic. [/QUOTE] Then why even the question? It seems that there are times when there is a need to write s/he, inclusive, even if I can’t generate the example. I don’t use the hu, myself. Rather, I use the improper form “their” when I mean his or hers or I use s/he, or I rewrite the sentence. However, the hu form shows up often on the Chronicle of Higher Ed by people who don’t want to contort a sentence into a form where it’s not needed. I’m not making the news… just reporting it! ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/18 "2007-04-28T20:57:24Z")
Heck, we already have a gender-neutral alternative to his and her: its. Why people (I too) choke at using it is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/19 "2007-04-28T21:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Heck, we already have a gender-neutral alternative to his and her: its. Why people (I too) choke at using it is beyond me. [/QUOTE] Well duh. Becase in English it’s not gender neutral, it’s used for inanimate objects. Witness the scene in Silence of the Lambs. Where he uses it dehumanise his victem. That’s just the way the English language is. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725/20 "2007-04-30T12:53:43Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] Then why even the question? It seems that there are times when there is a need to write s/he, inclusive, even if I can’t generate the example. I don’t use the hu, myself. Rather, I use the improper form “their” when I mean his or hers or I use s/he, or I rewrite the sentence. However, the hu form shows up often on the Chronicle of Higher Ed by people who don’t want to contort a sentence into a form where it’s not needed. I’m not making the news… just reporting it! [/QUOTE] Damned if I know why even the question. When the argument about his/her comes up, people seem to forget that “a” and “the” even exist! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-neutral-substitute-for-his-or-her/401725.md?page=2)