Posted: Aug 24, 2010 8:28 pm
Goldenmane wrote:Scott H wrote:'They' is plural; 'participant' is singular.
Bullshit.
"Whichever cunt left this shit lying around, I've got one message for them: they'd better come back and clean this shit up right now!"
We're using English, the bastard mutant offspring of every language under the sun. We aren't using Latin, least of all a formal version of it where there are strictly rigid rules. No language ever fucking works like that anyway. Language operates by consensus, where interlocutors agree upon what words mean given the context in which they're used.
Interesting. Allow me to present a cogent objection to your argument:
Fuck, fuckity fuck-fuck-fuck. Fuck-a-duck-duck the fuck-fuck truck. Fuck-a-dilly-ding-dong shut-th'-fuck-up, the fuck-fuck farted in the fuck-fuck truck.
Now, I would make it less ambiguous, but it is important to understand that we are playing a Wittgensteinian language game operating by consensus of the Three Great Kings of Fuckington.
GreyICE wrote:Scott H wrote:Alright, let's use my first example.
1. "If the soldier confronts a group of hostiles, then they are expected to take cover and protect themselves."
2. "If the soldier confronts a group of hostiles, then one is expected to take cover and protect oneself."
[...]
Well, you have identified a problem. You don't understand pronouns in English. Subjective pronouns refer to the subject preceding them.
You'll note your first sentence has similar 'ambiguity' (if you don't understand English) if you make both the subject and object plural, or make the subject and object singular. But our language doesn't have that issue. You would be using objective pronouns if it were referring to the object (him, her, us, them, etc.). The hostiles would be 'them' as they're the object of the sentence. That's how sentences like "He had them lead the parade" function properly.
If that were the case, we'd rewrite it as,
"If the soldier confronts a group of hostiles, then them are expected to take cover and protect themselves."
Unless you're fond of certain dialects, this is clearly incorrect pronoun usage. (Though it needs to be added that we are discussing a distinction between singular and plural that makes the use of 'they' complicated.)