Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
old adage:
He who laughs last, laughs best.
recast,
They who laughs last laughs best.
This just doesn't have the same thrust.

Doesn't sound good to me either, but Give everyone their supper sounds just fine. (*That's if we're going by sound and grammar rather than logic.) You don't have to use it if you don't want to, but I find nothing wrong with the usual usage of epicene they. In fact, it fills a hole in English grammar.


It doesn't sound good because it violates the rule that the form of the verb follows the pronoun and not the number of the meaning. "Whither you goest" sounds wrong, too. Of course, if you say "They who laugh last, laugh best" you have no way of telling if it's a singular they or not.