Re: [boost] Gender neutral documentation

From: me22 (me22.ca_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-04 14:03:35

> My personal preference is to use "they" as the first person singular
> gender-neutral pronoun.  This will be /intensely/ irritating to grammar
> purists, but does seem to be the way the language is evolving.

"They" is /not/ a singular pronoun, and to me it just makes it look as
though the writer is ignorant.

The grammatically correct pronoun for third person singular of unknown
gender in English is "he", since despite what some people claim.
Living in Quebec, where French is common--a language that requires
many more adjustments to change pronoun gender than English--one
common compromise is to add a small notice at the bottom stating
something along the lines of "The use of a particular gender in this
document is purely for the author's convenience and should not be
construed as excluding the other."

- Scott McMurray