"gender neutral pronouns"

[William Ryan]

Good points, and I agree. As an editor and writer myself I would let 
style and context guide my choice - and my preference would no doubt be 
influenced by my age, educational background, politics etc. I asked my 
wife, also an academic (historian) but younger than me, what her choice 
would be - she said she uses both depending on context but felt the 
'she' option for countries was slightly more old-fashioned. There could 
well also be a difference of preference in different parts of the 
English-speaking world. With regard to ships, I asked my schoolboy son 
(18), who goes on occasional cadet courses in the Royal Navy, what the 
current colloquial use is there and he said immediately 'she', and 
seemed slightly surprised that anyone should object to this.

With regard to the German and Soviet examples quoted below I think there 
can be a subtle difference between 'she' and 'her' - in the cases where 
'she' doesn't sound right, 'her' might. Extending the German example 
given, one could certainly not replace 'she' with 'it' ("it started it") 
but one might well write "Why did they invade Germany? - Well, Germany 
started it but claimed her vital interests were at stake". In that case 
'its' would sound quite odd to my ear. As you say, try every permutation 
- a carefully designed multiple-choice questionnaire might produce 
interesting results.

This is a wonderfully delicate matter, and all the more reason for 
tone-deaf publishers' desk editors not to impose ill-considered house 
rules on their authors.

Will Ryan


Kim Braithwaite wrote:
> There are indeed many contexts where "she" and "her" for a country 
> feel perfectly right - e.g., "... Stand beside her / and guide her..." 
> in Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." In this case "it" would really 
> clunk.
>
> But a little linguistic experimentation - try every permutation you 
> can think of - should reveal that there are lots of contexts where the 
> feminine pronoun sounds quite strained, even laughable: "Why did they 
> invade Germany?" "Well, she started it."
>
> In reference to the Soviet Union (and no, I'm not picking on 
> dictatorships) I'm not certain this sounds right: "She covers one 
> sixth of the earth's surface." I'd be tempted just to say (with "the 
> Soviet Union" as the antecedent) "The country covers ... etc.
> "
> No doubt other investigators can find their own examples.
>
> Mr Kim Braithwaite, Translator
> "Good is better than evil, because it's nicer" - Mammy Yokum (Al Capp)
>

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