I meant that "one" isn't a problem since it carries that same generic meaning. I didn't mean that it's 1st person.
Now using Trivialis handle.Martello and I are on pretty friendly terms, he can joke with me without having his home destroyed by volcanic eruptions.
This is a gag based on my username. "Ccoa" is a Peruvian cat goddess that liked to destroy villages and crops with natural disasters if not appeased regularly.
edited 9th Mar '12 1:26:38 PM by ccoa
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.Peru had a cat goddess?!
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer@54 That's not what natter means. Now, if all of this thread got plopped into an article where someone was using it, that'd be natter.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.Ccoa, I got the joke, but only because I've looked at your profile. Never heard of that goddess before that.
Maybe I can explain my problem with "one" a little better for anyone who still cares.
You guys know those Vibram Five Fingers shoes, right? Well, they're quite popular with a certain type of Army guy who also love CrossFit. There's nothing wrong with Five Fingers or CrossFit in and of themselves, but many of the guys who wear them and do CrossFit are also raging hard-ons who think the way they exercise is peerless and especially superior to traditional weight-lifting. And they think that makes them superior to guys like me, who do the regular heavy weight-lifting. So every time I see someone wearing Five Fingers, I figure they're a raging hard-on who think they're better than other people just based on their preferred workout routine.
Use of "one" is like that, for me. I know plenty of people who use it and are perfectly cool and not "shut-in Internet nerds" or whatever. However, that usage is very popular with douche-bags who like to sound "educated" and just come off as giant tools. So when somebody who's otherwise cool uses "one," it's like a perfectly cool and unassuming fellow wearing Five Fingers — I just immediately assume tool status.
edited 10th Mar '12 9:54:02 AM by Martello
"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.
It's not always best to make assumptions about people.
edited 10th Mar '12 1:35:53 PM by ThatHuman
somethingSingular they is only unacceptable in the absolute most formal/snobbish of writing. TV Tropes can use it fine. Even Wikipedia can.
edited 10th Mar '12 1:51:09 PM by FinalStarman
I'm not crazy, I just don't give a darn!![]()
I know that, but I don't always have the time to figure out if my assumptions or accurate or not. Sometimes I have to just go on quick impressions.
Also, quick platitudes really do little for the conversation.
edited 10th Mar '12 2:25:11 PM by Martello
"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.Using "one" is no more a platitude than any other pronoun. To argue that it is a platitude would, by extension, argue against using any pronouns. And that, ironically enough, would lead to excessive word use - also known as natter.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
He wasn't saying that using "one" was a platitude, he was referring to the part about assumptions.
Clarification on calling excessive word use "natter" above—this is not inaccurate. Here "natter" refers not to Conversation In The Main Page but to too many words of little significance—a type of Word Cruft.
Personally, I have no vehemence against "one." It doesn't make pages unnecessarily long and I don't immediately assume that anyone who writes it thinks that oneself is smarter than everyone else. Unless, of course, it makes the sentence make absolutely no grammatical sense, like the second half of that last sentence I just typed. "He" to refer to either gender is also fine and is technically* more grammatically correct than singular "they"… although these days it is frowned upon by some, what with the word implying masculine superiority or some bullshit like that about it being "sexist."
In the case of Adorably Precocious Child, the distinction that it can be either gender is necessary though, so adding "or she" is probably a better bet than replacing the word with "they," since "or she" is more explicit.
I would say assumptions can work as long as they are guesses, and are able to change when given further information. Sort of like making an initial assessment.
Sticking to bad assumptions is the problem (not referring to you, but anyone that does that).
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.Singular "they" should quite obviously be used if you don't want to spoil a gender-reveal, though many reveals do fall under It Was His Sled.
2025: the year it all ends?

Same here, although I'm also an academic and some of the more formal writing quirks have worked their way into my informal writing.
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