Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 11:28:08 +0900

Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]> writes:

> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>> + When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when
>> + addressing the the hypothetical user, and possibly "we" when
>> + discussing how the program might react to the user.
>
> Because I still get a funny feeling whenever I see a singular they,
> which I was taught to be ungrammatical in my foreign language
> classes long time ago, I kind of like this approach better, if we
> can pull it off.
>
> I wonder if we can avoid third-person entirely, though.

Git is primarily a communication medium used among developers, and
when one side is referred to as "you", the other side needs some
pronoun to explain inter-developer interactions.  We could say "you
as the integrator would have to ask my sign-off from me as a
contributor" to avoid third-person, but I suspect that this quickly
becomes just as awkward as using singular they.

I wonder if this makes it more workable:

    When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when
    addressing the the hypothetical user, and "they" in plural when
    you need to talk about a third-party that interacts with "you",
    and possibly "we" when discussing how the program might react to
    the user.

That way, we'd say "You'd ask their sign-off from contributors".

I'd stop here and continue watching from sidelines.

I think the topic tries to solve an issue worth solving, but I
suspect that a solution that requires singular they would not work
as well as a solution that doesn't would, especially for non native
speakers like me.