Hi Paul,

English has a singular "they". It doesn't suggest androgyny, either, from the definitions I've seen. For instance, Oxford English Dictionary:

2. In anaphoric reference to a singular noun or pronoun of undetermined gender: he or she.

The first usage example OED provides is from 1375. I don't think replacing "he" with "she" addresses the problem, it's still assuming a default gender. It's not too much tricker to search code for he/him & replace with they/them but that's also just an implementation issue, not a policy one.


It sounds like people are otherwise supportive but I'm not sure what the next step should be.

Best,
Eric Phetteplace
Systems Librarian
California College of the Arts
510.594.3660
2>/dev/null

On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 8:42 AM, Paul A <paul.a@navalmarinearchive.com> wrote:
On 2017-04-18 08:25 PM, Eric Phetteplace wrote:
Hi list,

I opened bug
 [snip]
Before*:*
"Kid growing and become a juvenile, he should pay "
After:
"Kid growing and become a juvenile, they should pay "

 Political correctness has never been my strong point (although I try to understand it), but I'm proficient in grammatical rigour. [1]

"Kid" is a singular noun, "a" is a singular article -- "they" is a plural pronoun. Perhaps replace "they" with "[s]he"? or "Kids growing and becoming juveniles, they should pay"?

>From a code maintenance p.o.v., it's easier to find and replace 'he' with '[s]he' if really this becomes a priority for Koha.

Best -- Paul

[1] I am aware of the so-called "singular third person epicene 'they'", but academically object to it -- it often suggests androgyny rather than gender neutrality.

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