The really weird bit about ey/eir is that they agree in the singular, i.e. like he/his rather than they/their; so "he is, they are, ey is", for instance. Which (given the similarity to they/their) reads rather oddly.
"Their", followed by plural agreement, is a perfectly acceptable and long-established way to refer to a single person of indeterminate gender.
If thou dost not like it, I suggest to thee that the "proper" second person singular might also be thy preference. Thine, but not mine.
A lot of the time, I write sentences so that there's no need for a gender-neutral third person singular at all. Where that fails, I use the plural. My one personal oddity is that I will then deliberately use "themself" rather than "themselves". I know this is considered unacceptable by a few "authorities", but English is a living language, and I consider myself sufficiently well versed in established usage that I'm competent to push the boundaries a little from time to time.
My comment was intended along the lines of "I agree. Not only is ey/eir cruddy, it's also unnecessary because we have a perfectly good long-established alternative."
I think other people tend to use "e is" which doesn't suffer from that problem (though it's equally ungainly as a proposed solution to the gender-neutrality problem).
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ewx
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 01:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 02:40 am (UTC)If thou dost not like it, I suggest to thee that the "proper" second person singular might also be thy preference. Thine, but not mine.
A lot of the time, I write sentences so that there's no need for a gender-neutral third person singular at all. Where that fails, I use the plural. My one personal oddity is that I will then deliberately use "themself" rather than "themselves". I know this is considered unacceptable by a few "authorities", but English is a living language, and I consider myself sufficiently well versed in established usage that I'm competent to push the boundaries a little from time to time.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 04:44 am (UTC)My comment was intended along the lines of "I agree. Not only is ey/eir cruddy, it's also unnecessary because we have a perfectly good long-established alternative."
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-29 03:44 am (UTC)