I’ve also seen the convention that every speaker uses their own pronouns as the default, so a woman would refer to an unknown person as “she”, while a man would refer to an unknown person as “he”. That also doesn’t seem to have caught on.
“Y’all” means the people you are directly talking to.
“All y’all” means everyone in the immediate vicinity that can hear you when you speak up just a mite.
Speaking as a lifelong southerner, that is not the usage I am familiar with.
Ooh, that drives me nuts. It ends up being weird and confusing. And in practice, it’s only done in female-dominated areas. (Like childcare.) I find the singular specific they a little awkward, but it doesn’t grind my gears like that used to. I’m sooo glad that practice is being replaced by actual gender-neutral language.
Southerner here.
To me y’all means you all or you people or you or you and yours.
It’s sort of a throwaway to encompass almost anything. I think.
I don’t think I’ve ever said “all y’all”
My dogs understand it when I say “y’all dogs quit digging up my bulbs”
From Idaho, so probably different from the actual south.
Moderator Note
This is a direct violation of SDMB rules. Specifically this:
You are not required to agree with this, However, as Ed said, if you don’t agree with this, keep your opinions to yourself.
Yeah, that sounds like totally normal English and I find it very hard to believe some people here who claim they have never said that. It’s so standard that I probably say it many times per day and don’t even know it.
And no it’s not something that started in the 21st Century.
Hmm… Sometimes it seems like I can barely speak English, so do not take this too seriously, but if it is necessary to refer to someone whose gender is unknown I will often write “he or she”. I do not think I have ever been consistent when it comes to abstract or generic persons, but they are often female [e.g., to make something up, “A person who desires that which is beyond reason must empty her mind of objective content”], (possibly under the unconscious influence of French?); was not aware that was confusing. In any case, for certain applications there are also generic characters: Alice, Bob, Carol, …
That’s different. The they is unseen in that exchange.
That’s all fine. What annoys me is when you have a document about pedagogy, for instance. And there are lots of references to “a child”, and that child is referred to as she in the first paragraph, then he in the second, then back to she in the third, and so on.
It could all be about the same hypothetical child. But this child’s gender keeps swapping.
In contrast, the standard characters, Alice, Bob, and Carol, are great.
As a non-French speaker, may I ask … why?
Does it have anything to do with your feelings or attitude towards the subject?
Many articles about cat health issues, or feline care in general, use “she/her” exclusively.
To refer to the animal, not the owner.
I’m still not sure how to parse that.
(On an I’m sure completely unrelated note, no cat food commercial in the history of commercial cat food - of which I’m aware - has featured a male (human) actor.
If I’m wrong, please, prove me wrong. I’d love to know that the stereotype was broken by a mainstream commercial.)
There’s a cat commercial running now. I forget what brand. Maybe Smalls.
He calls his cat the ninja cat, while laying on the couch with the cat walking on him.
Oh there’s another where guy explains how much better his cats fur and eyes are. How much he loves the food and especially the box it comes in.
Here’s one starring Jon Arbuckle himself.
Unlike the SDMB, where I am watching you all secretly as you post.
Mmmm … “grain sources.” How specific.
Makes me wonder about the “dairy products.”
When the wording is that vague, the legally permissible product is kinda ferrealz sketch.
ETA: forgot which thread I was in, this is a total hijack to the O.P. and for that, I do apologize.
In my defense, that’s some disturbing product being shilled in the Garfield ad.
you know ive seen MB’s where ours say guest you can put how you want to be addressed… maybe that would alleviate this debate
This sounds dumb but the only 2 reasons I know you are female is I knew a girl with the name Chaya in school
And you are one of the very few girls I have the slightest acquaintance with that’s into pinball…
Ooooh, I like that!
Taking up space just to announce “Guest” or “Charter Member” really doesn’t do anything for the discussion in any particular thread. Posters instead could use the space for informational data, rather than useless metrics.
(I will admit, seeing “Mod” is different than Guest or Ch.M.)
Up to the programmer squad, I suppose, to decide if it’s a worthwhile update.
German decided the Internet is neutral. Probably because it is a foreign word which is used in German.
Me as well. My user name is (to me) clearly feminine. But “they” isn’t going to hurt me. If someone uses “he”, I’ll be amused, and might react, but probably wouldn’t flag it.
I have no idea what an ork is, so I thought the skull was the face.
Squad? I don’t think we’ve had a squad since 2004 or so. It’s just hamsters running on wheels keeping this place going.
Speaking of which, does anyone remember who was supposed to be feeding the hamsters?