Chaucer et al

[GLL]

> Personally when I see 'they' as a singular my evaluation
> > of the writer's maturity and subject competence drops sharply.
:
: So much the worse for Chaucer, Shakespeare, et al.  But it's nice to
: have standards.
:
: >I also take 'points off' for writers who mix up 'blond' and 'blonde.'

... but the use by Chaucer of -e and other gender markers of his time earns
him the points back.

Now - does anyone think it's odd to call a submarine a 'she?'
I think that German makes an exception. There was also an old saw that the KM
battlecruiser 'Bismarck' was referred to in the masculine, but this did not
apply to [her] sister ship 'Tirpitz.'

Comments?

-GLL

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