Singular "they" on Facebook

[Joel S. Berson]

This is singular "their".  Do you find Facebook also using the
nominative or accusative?  As in "Jane Doe lives in Springfield,
Mass. They is a professor of English at the University of
Massachusetts."  Or "Jane Dow is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in
Literature, which was awarded them in 1993."

I agree these are not sentences likely to be constructed by Facebook
software, but perhaps there are examples.

Joel

At 8/10/2013 07:19 AM, you wrote:
>My apologies if this has been mentioned before...
>
>I've noticed that Facebook, and probably other social media applications,
>uses the singular "they" when the person's sex has not been indicated. As in
>"Jane Doe changed their profile picture." The software will use "his" or
>"her" when the person has indicated their sex in the profile. If one does
>not do so, then it uses "they."
>
>Just another example of the usage spreading.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org