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BGonline.org Forums
Who's in charge of the US Clock Rules?
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: Who's in charge of the US Clock Rules? (Taper_Mike)
Date: Saturday, 2 November 2013, at 8:08 a.m.
"In the 19th century, grammarians in England petitioned the British Parliament to declare gender-indeterminate pronouns as 'he' rather than 'they', which was common usage at the time.... Generic he has been a preference in usage, not a binding grammatical "rule", as Thackeray's use of both forms demonstrates. The alternative to the masculine generic with the longest and most distinguished history in English is the third-person plural pronoun. Recognized writers have used they, them, themselves, and their to refer to singular nouns such as one, a person, an individual, and each since the 1300s."
Says Wikipedia so it must be true ;-
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