User talk:Trent 900

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Gendered pronouns

I saw your comment on Ultimatum game, and I thought it best to respond here. I'm glad that you feel the same way I do about the generic he, many people resist this. As a matter of clarification I don't randomly jump back and forth between "him" and "her", whenever I introduce a person which must be referred to with a pronoun I assign that person a sex which is used consistently throughout the article. I switch back and forth between male and female assignments. I don't like the singular they because I think it sounds bad and introduces ambiguity.

With respect to the Ultimatum game article, using "him" and "her" serve a purpose. The proposer is male and responder female, so they can be distinguished without constant reference. Using singular "they" would introduce increased ambiguity.

Anyway, thought I'd let you know my thoughts. Thanks for contributing! --best, kevin [kzollman][talk] 01:47, 21 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I understand your position a bit better now, thanks for responding, I was afraid I'd been a bit a bit too dismissive! I can completely understand that you dislike the singular they from an aesthetic point of view - I find it a little clumsy myself - but it doesn't introduce ambiguity, it merely reflects ambiguity that already exists. You only use singular they when the gender of the subject is undefined - so the ambiguity is already there. And I just find it better to represent the undefined genders rather than giving a false impression that no ambiguity exists by using a gendered pronoun. Not an issue of major importance, however, to each his own. Regards, Trent 900 14:39, 21 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]