On: XKCD's Randall Munroe on Google+ requiring your ge...

[epochwolf]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Generic_they It's been around for a very long time.

[parfe → epochwolf]

Are you saying that usage is common or are you showing me the exception that proves the rule?

I Don't think I'd ever use a "They" in a way such as being described here.

"John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic."

Or is it "They was caught in traffic." ?

[klipt → parfe]

> "John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic."

It sounds ungrammatical because the gender-neutral pronoun follows a gender specific name. The actual use is more like

"A friend of mine was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic."

[parfe → klipt]

This conversation is regarding asocial network where your name is always public.

[lhnz → parfe]

I'm British: I use it quite often. Maybe it's rarer in the US?

"John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic." is perfectly correct usage (however if you'd just called somebody by a gender-specific name there's not much point in then being gender-neutral).

[parfe → lhnz]

If you said "They" I would wonder who else was in the car with John.