D&D General Problematic issues with TSR era D&D from a modern lens

[GMMichael]

I would personally advocate for using the more natural-sounding conjugations. Nonbinary folks are already fighting an uphill battle getting people to use they instead of he or she, and getting people to use funny-sounding conjugations like "they is" and "they was" might be a bridge too far. The rules of language are based on usage... I suspect we will see "they are" being taught as the appropriate conjugation for a singular nonbinary person before we see "they is."

They (pl) have been using "they was" in the south for centuries (one (neut.) assumes). Teachers (or English book publishers?) still haven't adopted that. It would be impressive to see a new teaching of "they" usage after only decades.

Let me edit this for you...

"Chris, the rogue, stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they were willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

Much appreciated. But I might have been talking about the men with "they." Or maybe Chris was willing to use the wand that the men had.

The confusion over singular or plural "you" was neatly (?) solved in the south with the invention of a new "word." I'd like to see the same for a singular "they."

By the way Southerners, if "rural American communities" is more applicable to the above statements than "the south," I'm happy to do some editing here.

 

[FrogReaver]

They (pl) have been using "they was" in the south for centuries (one (neut.) assumes). Teachers (or English book publishers?) still haven't adopted that. It would be impressive to see a new teaching of "they" usage after only decades.


Much appreciated. But I might have been talking about the men with "they." Or maybe Chris was willing to use the wand that the men had.

The confusion over singular or plural "you" was neatly (?) solved in the south with the invention of a new "word." I'd like to see the same for a singular "they."

By the way Southerners, if "rural American communities" is more applicable to the above statements than "the south," I'm happy to do some editing here.

that’un

 

[FrogReaver]

They (pl) have been using "they was" in the south for centuries (one (neut.) assumes). Teachers (or English book publishers?) still haven't adopted that. It would be impressive to see a new teaching of "they" usage after only decades.


Much appreciated. But I might have been talking about the men with "they." Or maybe Chris was willing to use the wand that the men had.

The confusion over singular or plural "you" was neatly (?) solved in the south with the invention of a new "word." I'd like to see the same for a singular "they."

By the way Southerners, if "rural American communities" is more applicable to the above statements than "the south," I'm happy to do some editing here.

that’un

 

[VelvetViolet]

that’un

that’un

That may be further shortened to thon.

The History of 'Thon', the Forgotten Gender-Neutral Pronoun

We added a gender-neutral pronoun in 1934. Why have so few people heard of it?

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[Lylandra]

not like English didn't have a word for "you singular" in ye olden time: thou. Though it was used in the same personal manner its derivative "du" is used in German if I am correct. We theoretically got the same mixing in "you formal singular" "you formal plural" and "they plural". To which I'd say that it's all context baby.

*fun fact: Technically, to a German, all english-speaking people are using the noble's address for each other when they're using "you" for a singular person. also yep, there was a time when we had three means of address.

 

[Azzy]

Let me edit it further:

"Chris stealthily approached the campfire which was surrounded by ten lightly skinned men. The rogue had a Wand of Fireball, and they was willing to use it. Once Chris got into range, they used the wand, but it backfired, and the rogue died a fiery death."

If a verb conjugates differently based on number, then use the singular form for singular pronouns.

Keep in mind that the singular "you" uses "are/were" rather than "is/was", so this shouldn't really be an issue.