Image from the Interwebs
If you have been around my blog any length of time, you likely know my stance on this. (I am she/her by the way.) People are people. I’ve got a real name, a pen name, and a SCA name – be who you are, hide who you are (especially if safety requires it), explore who you are. It’s all good. I’ve dealt with too many teenagers who need the space to try on several boxes before finding the one that fits them. Heck, young children explore all the jobs include being bees.
That being said, when people post things like “I don’t believe in pronouns” and “pronouns shouldn’t exist.” I laugh and laugh and laugh in editor.
Have you seen a world without pronouns?
Some of my writer friends have joked about writing a story with no pronouns. It’s not possible.
Most people know about personal pronouns (I/she/he/they) and object pronouns (me, you, her, them) … some even get possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, theirs) – but we got a WHOLE bunch of other ones like indefinite pronouns (few, nobody, both, something) and interrogative pronouns (what, who, which). Taking them all out would be impossible and have anything resembling a reasonable story.
Okay, maybe not impossible, I’ve seen what some wordsmiths can do. But, structurally, the English language depends on all sorts of pronouns.
Including using (they/them) for singular, when the gender of the person is unknown or unknowable.
If you want to go back to the “old times” and “proper pronouns”, let’s (whoa, I forgot we actually make contractions (let us) of pronouns as the second part instead of just the first part like It’s for it is) talk about the difference between formal and informal second person which modern English has dropped. (See comic below)
A pronoun is simply something used as a substitute for a proper noun.
No pronouns? Not on my editorial watch.
