Posted: Sep 19, 2019 7:25 am
I've nothing against the singular they, my "common sense" tells me that it's been occasionally used for both a person of nonspecified gender and an unknown person throughout my life and I've acquired this usage myself.
From the point of view of linguistic clarity I do like the idea of a separate pronoun to refer to a person of in-between or nonspecified gender as opposed to a specific or nonspecific person of as yet undetermined gender. I absolutely loathe all the words beginning with x though: xe, xer etc. They don't conform to my expectation of English. Ze, zer etc. appeal much more, although inevitably I will fall into using whatever catches on, which I expect something other than they ultimately will.
From the point of view of linguistic clarity I do like the idea of a separate pronoun to refer to a person of in-between or nonspecified gender as opposed to a specific or nonspecific person of as yet undetermined gender. I absolutely loathe all the words beginning with x though: xe, xer etc. They don't conform to my expectation of English. Ze, zer etc. appeal much more, although inevitably I will fall into using whatever catches on, which I expect something other than they ultimately will.