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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
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.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>it fills a hole in English grammar.
sure. I'm just sayin' that, as a rule, it's just as useless as the other.
-ron o.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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.
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