A lot of people object to “he or she” on grounds of euphony; but clarity of meaning should always take priority in our considerations over sound. The fact is that “he or she” is what we actually mean.
Granted, like any phrase, it is inelegant in certain contexts, and can become tiresome if repeated. So one has to use workarounds. Luckily, “they” (always perfectly acceptable in spoken conversation) is also available for judicious written use.
“the most important reason to argue with someone is to change his or her mind” sounds just fine. (“Their” could also be substituted.)
“Either a person has enough of the rationalist virtues to overcome it, or he or she doesn’t” is bad, mainly because of the “or” preceding “he or she”. “He/she doesn’t” is better, but “they don’t” is probably the best (certainly in a comment; maybe a post should be more formal?).
Invented pronouns are just too strange and should be avoided.
but clarity of meaning should always take priority in our considerations over sound.
Agreed. Sound is deeply important though. Most of us on a forum like this spend our days navigating seas of words. To give no consideration to the sound of those words is exceptionally bad fun theory.
A lot of people object to “he or she” on grounds of euphony; but clarity of meaning should always take priority in our considerations over sound. The fact is that “he or she” is what we actually mean.
Granted, like any phrase, it is inelegant in certain contexts, and can become tiresome if repeated. So one has to use workarounds. Luckily, “they” (always perfectly acceptable in spoken conversation) is also available for judicious written use.
“the most important reason to argue with someone is to change his or her mind” sounds just fine. (“Their” could also be substituted.)
“Either a person has enough of the rationalist virtues to overcome it, or he or she doesn’t” is bad, mainly because of the “or” preceding “he or she”. “He/she doesn’t” is better, but “they don’t” is probably the best (certainly in a comment; maybe a post should be more formal?).
Invented pronouns are just too strange and should be avoided.
Agreed. Sound is deeply important though. Most of us on a forum like this spend our days navigating seas of words. To give no consideration to the sound of those words is exceptionally bad fun theory.
Still sexist, for the reason “whe or ble” is still racist.
Also, down with the gender binary. Do we actually mean that we should argue with men and women to change their minds, but not with genderqueers?