Sacred_Root t1_itk1sd3 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:38 AM

Reply to comment by nim_opet in The way people speak in The Count of Monte Cristo. Can someone explain? by foxdna

Identifying by they/them instead of he or she.

nim_opet t1_itk5ixt wrote on October 24, 2022 at 6:26 AM

None of that has anything to do with the polite version of “you”. Those are genders of third person personal pronouns. The “tu/vous” distinction is specifically about the 2nd person pronoun and how it changes in singular vs. plural. 2nd person pronoun is not gendered.

Sacred_Root t1_itm02ae wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:07 PM

We're not talking about the same thing.

Sacred_Root t1_itm0kjp wrote on October 24, 2022 at 5:10 PM

I never said it did.

Sacred_Root t1_itkjrkj wrote on October 24, 2022 at 9:54 AM

Tell them that. Not me. You misunderstood what I was saying, anyway.

Nice_Sun_7018 t1_itl66a0 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 1:42 PM

I guess we all misunderstood you then lol. “They/them” is in use because English doesn’t have a gender-neutral singular pronoun. If we did, we would use it. Since we don’t, we use the plural gender-neutral term (and we have always done this when the gender of the singular subject is unknown, too, not just for non-binary people).

This, as others have tried to tell you, has nothing to do with a language having a formal versus non-formal word for “you” (which typically comes in both singular and plural forms).