Charlie Stuart - Blog

International Pronouns Day 2022

International Pronouns Day happens each year on the third Wednesday of October. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity. International Pronouns Day seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. GLSEN

It's been a while since I've had the chance to do a blogpost. Life, as always, is hectic. Since graduating in June, I've been working as a Council Coordinator for CCI's DEI Council. A lot of my work has been internal organization, but today is International Pronouns Day which means I get to make content again.

Last year the content was more focused on what pronouns are grammatically. This year, I decided to go over the history behind pronouns in the English language. I've found a classic rebuttal to someone using they/them pronouns is that "it's not grammatically correct to use they/them to refer to one person". I've also found that the people who say this tend not to care about what is actually grammatically correct and what isn't. None of these people ever say that it's grammatically incorrect to use the singular "you". The singular "they" predates the singular "you" by 300 years. My suspicion is that people don't want to force themselves to unlearn the gender norms that taught them to associate certain pronouns with certain appearances and are instead trying to hide behind fake grammar laws. In an effort to break down some of this resistance, I made a bunch of content going over the history of pronouns to show that trans people aren't doing anything new or absurd. This blogpost will be mainly copying and pasting the information from the below flyer and post I made.

1375: William and the Werewolf

In 1375, the singular "they" is first used in the medieval romance novel William and the Werewolf [1].

1660: George Fox and the Singular You

In 1660, George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, wrote a book, Fox's Epistle 191, labeling anyone who used singular "you" an idiot or a fool.

And so all Friends, train up your children in the same singular and plural language; all masters, mistresses, and dames, or whatsoever ye are called, that do take Friends' children, that are in the singular and plural language, it is not fit for you to bring them out of it, neither to force nor command them otherwise, to please your customers, nor to please men; for if they should pay two or three for one, that would displease you, who would have them to speak two or three, when they should speak singular, thee and thou to one. Fox's Epistle 191 [2]

If we look at English, it makes sense where he's coming from.

Singular:

Plural:

1858: Thon - Charles Crozat Converse

In 1858, Charles Crozat Converse proposes "thon", the contracted form of "that one". He makes the announcement in his letter to The Critic in 1884 [3].

1903: Thon - Funk and Wagnall's Dictionary

Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary recognizes "thon" in 1903.

thon. Pronoun of the 3rd person, common gender, meaning "that one, he she, or it": a neoterism proposed by Charles Crozat Converse, and apparently complying with the neoteristic canons, since it supplies an antecedent blank, obeys a simple and obvious analogy, and is euphonious. Funk and Wagnall's, Supplement to A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1903 [4]

It appears that "thon" appeared earlier in 1897 in Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language (Vol. II).

thon [THON’s, poss.; THON, obj.] That one; he, she, or it; a pronoun of the 3d person, common gender, a contracted and solidified form of that one, proposed in 1858 by Charles Crozat Converse, of Erie, Pennsylvania, as a substitute in cases where the use of a restrictive pronoun involves either inaccuracy or obscurity, or its non-employment necessitates awkward repetition. The following examples, first as ordinarily written and afterward with the substitution of the genderless pronoun, illustrate the grammatical deficiencies of the English language in this particular and the proposed method of removal: "If Harry or his wife comes, I will be on hand to meet him or her (or whichever appears)." "Each pupil must learn his or her own lesson." With the substitution of thon: "If Harry or his wife comes, I will be on hand to meet thon (i.e., that one who comes)." "Each pupil must learn thon's lesson (i.e., his or her own)." Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language (Vol. II, 1897) [5]

1943: Thon - Merriam Webster Dictionary

Merriam Webster dictionary recognizes "thon" in 1943.

1955: Thon - New York Times

In 1955, New York Times releases an article He, She, and Thon calling the phrase "he or she" clumsy[6].

1991: Solving The Great Pronoun Problem - Kelly Ann Sippell

Kelly Ann Sippell writes her master's thesis Solving the Great Pronoun Problem[7] where she listed over 80 proposed gender neutral pronouns proposed over the prior 150 years.

1994: Merriam Webster's Dictionary

I think this quote from 1994 really sums up the entire argument really well. The English language is flexible and there's no reason to complain about they/them.

"We must remember that the English pronoun system is not fixed. Several centuries ago the objective plural you drove the nominative and objective singulars thou and thee and the nominative plural ye out of general use. It appears to have happened for social reasons, not linguistic reasons. They, their, them have been used continuously for six centuries, and have been disparaged in such use for about two centuries." Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage

References

[1]: The first recorded use of the singular "they"

[2]: Fox, G. A Collection of Many Select and Christian Epistles, Letters and Testimonies, Written on Sundry Occasions, by That Ancient, Eminent, Faithful Friend and Minister of Christ Jesus, George Fox. Marcus T.C. Gould, 1831, .

[3]: C. C. Converse, "A New Pronoun." The Critic, Aug. 2, 1884, p. 55

[4]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/third-person-gender-neutral-pronoun-thon

[5]: https://blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/597154

[6]: https://www.nytimes.com/1955/10/02/archives/he-she-and-thon.html

[7]: Sippell, K. A. Solving the Great Pronoun Problem: The Acceptability of the Singular "They." UMI, 1993, https://books.google.com/books?id=xtu8nQEACAAJ.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/mx-gender-neutral-title

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/woty2019-top-looked-up-words-they

https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2732

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