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I'm Bored. Let's Invent Words!

T-Hybrid

Entry posted by T-Hybrid

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Some of you may remember this lesson from English courses. The whole "Everybody went to their house" vs. "Everybody went to his or her house". Well frankly, I find the whole "his or her" nonsense. It's something about how "their" or "them" refers to the plural form while he/she is for singular use. But if you're like me, you either don't get it or just don't care enough. So I've taken it upon myself to propose a few changes to remedy what has slowly become a complex grammatical issue.

 

"Herm": (Hurm) A combination of "him" and "her" primarily for use in such sentences as "I'm supposed to greet the new student. Have you seen herm?" I like this one the most, as it's the most natural combination.

 

"Hes": (Hez) Combines the words "his" and "her" primarily for use in such sentences as "It was Parent's Day at school. Everybody was sitting with hes parents." It'd be confusing at first on paper and when being pronoucned (as it would commonly be mistaken for "his" or "he's"), but just as with purple ketchup, we'd adjust.

 

"Hesh": (Haysh) Combines "she" and "he"...though at the moment I can't think of when this would be used in a sentence. But since we're combining two words to make new ones, I figured it'd be smart to set up this one. Just in case you know?

 

If somebody out there understands the English more gooder than I do, I'd appreciate getting a tip as to if this is built on sound grammatical logic. Or if I just spent an entire blog post offering a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. But hey, can you blame me? The English language is confusing!

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ChocolateFrogs
English is a dead language.

 

I like Herm the best. I might just start using it.

 

As far as his/her/their, it's all about what you already have. "Does each student have his book?" His because student is singular. Don't say "Does each student have their book?" because student is singular. (I just said that....)

(And I'm going into Journalism, so I have to know these kind of things even though I hate these kind of aspects about english class)

 

I'd tell you to go ask your english teacher but you're out of college now. Just accept it, kind of like math. You don't need to understand it to do it because it's right.

 

-CF

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xccj

I always think that replacing "their" with "his or her" breaks down the smoothness of the sentense... assuming it was smooth to begin with. I like your way of thinking, trying to find a solution. Every individual can learn from this, whether hesh (he or she) likes it or not. :P

 

*was that too forced?*

 

:music:

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ChocolateFrogs
I always think that replacing "their" with "his or her" breaks down the smoothness of the sentense... assuming it was smooth to begin with. I like your way of thinking, trying to find a solution. Every individual can learn from this, whether hesh (he or she) likes it or not. :P

 

*was that too forced?*

 

:music:

Why not just say "he" and not be PC!?!

 

-CF

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T-Hybrid
Why not just say "he" and not be PC!?!

See, that's the problem. "Their" is used commonly because it's much less awkward than tagging "he or she" or "his or her" to every sentence. That's why I felt it'd be helpful to develope a few geneder-neutral pronouns so that we can shorten sentences.

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Hahli Husky

XD I like your versions.

 

If the gender is unknown, you're supposed to say "him". This is how it was for a long time, and many old grammar books will tell you this. Why the "change"? Because us fiercely independent women (who are fiercely independent about the soy products we choose) didn't like it. :P But it is supposed to be "him" or "his" or "he" or whatever.

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T-Hybrid

It's important to note that these new words are also useful if the gender of the person in question is unknown. Such as in the "new student" example. When the principal only has the info that a new student is coming.

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