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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: Chuzzlewit who wrote (974)3/31/1998 1:57:00 AM
From: Sowbug   of 4711
 
"Send in your child's name and we will tell you whether they are a winner."

In 1987 I was graduating from high school and our Assistant Principal distributed a memo to the honor students telling us how to get from our seats to the podium. In the words of Huck Finn, I disremember the exact words, but it was something like this:

"At that point, each student will lead themself to the podium."

Neither before then, nor after then, have I seen a more cacophonous use of a member of the "they" family. And "themself" isn't actually even in the family -- it's a mutant!

I wanted to say something to the A.P., but I felt my graduation hung in the balance, so I shut up.

Jack Clarke has pretty fairly reconciled the "him/her" camp and the "they" camp (you and I are both in the former camp). I won't try to paraphrase his position, but I remember that I felt a little better after reading what he had to say.
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