Global : Ideas : Bank - Gender-neutral third-person pronoun

		02 September 2010

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Gender-neutral third-person pronoun

Score
50%

14 votes, Feasibility 41% Originality 36% Humour 28%

The Problem:
We have words for "he" and "she", but no word that makes no gender distinction. This leads us to say "he" when we mean "he or she." It also requires us to know what gender a person is when it is otherwise not necessary.

The Social Invention:
I propose we use a gender-neutral third-person pronoun, which means "he" or "she" without specifying gender. The word I suggest is "ta," which comes from Mandarin Chinese. Instead of "He went to the store" or "She went to the store", we would say, "Ta went to the store." Similarly, "I met him last week" or "I met her last week" would become "I met ta last week." We don't have to give up using the words "he" or "she" if we don't want to.

For those of you who think it's a radical idea, consider this: We don't have gendered words for "I/me" and "you" (but some languages do). Also, many languages have a word that means the same thing as "ta."

The Author - Josh McFly (galactonerd)

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abc123 30 Aug '10 01:54	Subject: asdfasdf Michelle Malkin Michelle Obama Michelle Rodriguez Michelle Trachtenberg Mila Kunis Milla Jovovich Minka Kelly Minki van der Westhuizen Miranda Kerr Mischa Barton

venn99 19 Jul '10 04:37	Subject: asdfasdf http://ask.nokiarepairmaster.com/showthread.php?p=431641#post431641

venn99 15 Jul '10 21:10	Subject: asdfasdf +uggs%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Eugg+sandles%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Ewomen%5C%27s+uggs%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhobbytrainexpress.info%3Eho+scale+model+railroad%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhobbytrainexpress.info%3Emodel+train+track+layouts%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Etrample+in+uggs%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhobbytrainexpress.info%3Emodel+trains+stores%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Ekids+uggs%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhobbytrainexpress.info%3Eelectric+train%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Eugg+outlet+camarillo+hit+bg%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Eugg+classic+tall+metallic%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Euggs+boutique%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.luvugg.com%3Euggs+boots%3C%2Fa%3E%0D%0A%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fhobbytrainexpress.info%3Ediscount+model+tr

venn99 15 Jul '10 12:04	Subject: asdfasdf http://carrieunderwoodbr.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=161402

venn99 15 Jul '10 03:27	Subject: asdfasdf http://forum.npp.com.ua/index.php?showtopic=69633
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