alongdrive
04-07-2005, 09:22 AM
Mine is the inability to speak grammatically proper while leaving the subject's gender undefined.
For instance, you're writing a book and someone leaves your character an anonymous note. You want to refer to the anonymous character afterwards. You can't say "He left the note" or "She left the note" because you don't know that person's gender.
I used to always write "They left the note." but my highschool English teacher reprimanded me saying that you can't say 'they' either because that's plural. He said you're supposed to say 'he or she' or, if gender is unknown, just go with the masculine.
I don't like that because if I write "His note was on my locker" it implies that the character knows the person who left it was male when I purposefully want the gender to remain a mystery. And typing 'he or she' gets old fast.
"He or she left me this note. I don't know what it's about but I'm supposed to meet him or her at his or her house at eight tonight. He or she will be waiting."
You can't type a novel like that, it's horrible.
I usually just say fuck it and type "They left me this note. I don't know what they want. etc." and don't worry about it.
For instance, you're writing a book and someone leaves your character an anonymous note. You want to refer to the anonymous character afterwards. You can't say "He left the note" or "She left the note" because you don't know that person's gender.
I used to always write "They left the note." but my highschool English teacher reprimanded me saying that you can't say 'they' either because that's plural. He said you're supposed to say 'he or she' or, if gender is unknown, just go with the masculine.
I don't like that because if I write "His note was on my locker" it implies that the character knows the person who left it was male when I purposefully want the gender to remain a mystery. And typing 'he or she' gets old fast.
"He or she left me this note. I don't know what it's about but I'm supposed to meet him or her at his or her house at eight tonight. He or she will be waiting."
You can't type a novel like that, it's horrible.
I usually just say fuck it and type "They left me this note. I don't know what they want. etc." and don't worry about it.