> For English, aside from do/does useless distinguishment, the lack of a gender ... | Hacker News

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		spiralx on Oct 8, 2018 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: The Awful German Language (1880) > For English, aside from do/does useless distinguishment, the lack of a gender neutral noun for a person usually make people write in a way "he/she". You could say, "the person" but it's long. You mean "they", used as far back as Shakespear?

h1d on Oct 8, 2018 [–]

There's none for singular form.

spiralx on Oct 9, 2018 | [–]

"A person walked down the street. They were wearing a brown coat."

Singular they has been in recorded use since 1375, it's only been the last couple of hundred years people started trying to insist it wasn't valid.

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

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