Word of the year 'they'

[SapphosRock]

Well at least I'm now being grammatically correct while being politically correct!

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/10/they-beats-the-2019-word-of-the-year-merriam-webster

I'm confused. Are dictionary definitions OK now? Or only when approved by the trans cult?

I thought 'they' (definition:the brainwashed plonkers) had burned all the dictionaries?

I'm confused too. My English teacher taught me to use 'he or she' if the sex of the person I was writing about wasn't known or clear.

I feel old.

There was a programme on Radio 4 yesterday about a woman who does female drag, referred to as "ultra-fem", who thinks the definition of "drag queen" is wrong, ie males adopting female stereotypes to entertain others.

She was invited to meet with the OED to put forward her case and even though it was clearly inadequate she got a half-way house change in which the definition of "drag queen" in the OED will no longer be limited to men. It was noticeable that she dressed up (sic) her argument in terms of trans, non-binary, queer, gender this, gender that, etc.

I did wonder how many of us would get an invitation to the OED to have definitions of things change that we don't much like. My guess would be, not many.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4v8 The Drag Queen and the Dictionary

Ooh - I came looking for a thread on this.

As I understand it, the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year is based on search statistics... so lots and lots and lots and LOTS of people in the UK and US have been looking up the definition/correct usage of ‘they’.

Very interesting!

2018 M-W WOTY: justice
2017 M-W WOTY: feminism

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

www.americandialect.org/2015-word-of-the-year-is-singular-they

They is late to the party.

I thought women dressing up like men for entertainment purposes were drag kings, I don't see how they can be a drag queen.

She does female drag, ie she is a women who dresses up as a woman but in the most exaggerated stereotypical way. That's why it's called ultra-fem.

I'm ok with using the singular "they" for someone whose sex I don't know e.g "someone took my parking space so I left them a note". It's not even a new usage -- it goes back to Shakespeare.

But when I do know the person's sex, "they" becomes really unnatural e.g. "Susan went to the doctor because they felt sick".