A Gender-Neutral Plural Pronoun for Talking to Groups

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Charlie.

I’m actually in Lake City, Florida right now on a helicopter detail with the U.S. Forest Service.

Now, where is Lake City, Florida? Northern Florida?

Yes, it’s north central Florida.

North central, okay.

What’s on your mind?

With the Forest Service, I am a wildland firefighter. I’m also a chainsaw instructor and a volunteer coordinator. And I give classes. I work with fire crews and volunteer crews, which are quite the mixture of men and women. And the question arises when you’re addressing the group, small or large, is how do you address both sexes in the group equally without constantly saying he and or she, he or she?

Well, that’s a good question. Charlie, are you getting feedback from your students?

No, not really. It would be nice to have a creative way that the language could use such a word.

You all work pretty well in the South, but you don’t always work in every situation.

Right.

And so you’re talking to them directly, and you might say something like, when you first turn on your chainsaw, make sure you do XYZ, right?

Mm—

I’m trying to think of sentences where you’re running up against this problem. Can you give me some examples?

Okay.

Let’s say when the chainsaw operator starts their saw, he or she should engage the chain break first.

Okay.

There is an answer on this. There is an answer for this, Charlie, and it’s the word they.

They?

Yeah, the word they. They and their. We use a singular they in English and have for 400 years. Now, I know there are some people who are cringing right now because they think that they can only be plural, but English is loaded with words that have more than one use, more than one meaning, heavily dependent upon the context. And they recently has been accepted by many grammar authorities, even the most conservative ones, in many uses, including this very one. This exact usage where the gender of the person you’re talking about is variable or unknown. You can use they as a singular pronoun to stand in for that person.

-huh.

I see he slash she in text a lot.

Yeah.

So it could be written just as well and have the same firm meaning. Charlie, does they feel comfortable to you?

No, it really does in all situations, particularly when you’re aggressing a group of, you want to say hello or hey guys or would you guys. And guys usually, this is all right to address male and female, but in itself, guy usually means male in the cases I’m familiar with. That use is grammatically distinct from the other example. But when you’re directly speaking to a group, you are addressing them. It’s called the vocative use. You guys is very common but colloquial in English. And so I understand that some people push back because guys can be in other uses. Only gendered male, but in that particular use where you are addressing a mixed-gender group and talking to them. It is very common, even among women, to say you guys.

So, Charlie, you have our blessing to use they and their in those cases and just focus on the content of what you’re saying about the chainsaws and how to use them. I’m thinking if your lessons are blood-free, you’re great. You’re doing well. And maybe the grammar is not quite as important.

Yeah, no rangers were harmed in the giving of this lesson.

So, Charlie, just relax and convey the content about chainsaw safety.

Okay, yeah.

All right, and thank you for the work you’re doing, and thanks for calling us.

Labor of love.

Thanks, Charlie.

Take care now.

Okay, thank you very much.

Bye-bye.

All right, take care.

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