Enoch Burke turns up to school again despite sacking - read OP before posting

That is an example of a third person singular pronoun where gender is unknown or irrelevant because you don’t know who the person is.

The Burke's a well known Irish Religious family who put themselves in the spotlight for the last decade or so.

There names and some jobs are well known because of their actions. They aren't government secrets.

I wouldn't really care if my siblings names are posted here or on the internet. There online anyway. I've even discussed there personal stuff about my family on here. So, I don't really care.

So, there isn't much to think about. The Burke's put themselves out their and they'll get discussed.

I ask again. Would you use “it” or “they” in the simple example I provided. Or would you jump through some complicated hoops and claim that you’d go out to the door and pull down their pants to verify their gender to your own satisfaction before commenting, just so you don’t have to admit that you’re wrong?

My, my! So it’s used as a third person singular personal pronoun in circumstances where “him” or “her” aren’t appropriate?

I wonder what other circumstances that usage would be both very useful and correct?

People don't admit they're wrong! This is 2023, not 1923 😂

I’m not saying it is without use, nor incorrect, I’m saying “it” may be more appropriate as it relates to a single person of undefined gender. Nothing more than that.

No it isn’t.

Yea the mother is deranged. She’s the root of it all tbh- they were all home schooled by her. Quite a dangerous individual but like all bullies need to be faced head on. Super intelligent intellectually family but as for the rest enough said.

I’d imagine it’ll be straight to appeal his dismissal- not that easy sack anyone let alone from the public sector.

Great first post.

Get stuck in, have a go.

No we can't all agree, it's not in our DNA.

They are not Catholics.

Be a very boring world if we did. Or a fascist paradise.

Look, we know full well that you searched all the online dictionaries, and they all gave a standard definition of “they” that refers to unknown gender, and another that refers to non-binary gender identity. Oxford, Cambridge, Collins, Webster, Macmillan… all of them. I mean, a simple Google search confirms this.

Then you went to the attic and pulled out some antique, and lo-and-behold, suddenly it’s the definitive authority on modern English to you because it uses the term “non-standard” and it suits your agenda.

Don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about on such a flimsy pretence.

Splitting hairs a bit - the contra comes from the refusal to use requested prounouns in the first place and an insistance in sticking to the traditional gender-based ones. It's exacly how Enoch got into trouble. In other words, even if he was asked to use it/its he'd still have refused.

Yeah, but he'd have objected on relgious rounds to "it" as well. "They" is not a religious issue.

And I know what you mean with they - I was a proofreader for a while and it took an adjustment!

No doubt he would have disagreed with anything that went against his religious beliefs, no matter what term or reference was used to describe this student.