GEICO, the second-largest vehicle insurance underwriter in the US, has decided it will no longer cover Tesla Cybertrucks. The company is terminating current Cybertruck policies and says the truck “doesn’t meet our underwriting guidelines.”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      33
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      “their” is shorter than “his or her”

      (Even if you don’t care about gender inclusiveness, they is just more convenient)

      • DigitalDilemma
        link
        fedilink
        English
        83 months ago

        The best English literature doesn’t follow the basis of most convenient or shortest. Sometimes there are other reasons to choose a word of phrase.

        The plot of Romeo and Juliet could be rewritten in a paragraph but probably wouldn’t have had the same impact.

        • Midnight Wolf
          link
          fedilink
          English
          163 months ago

          “some teenage idiots do teenage idiot things and die. fin.” roaring applause

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            73 months ago

            I once heard it described as a “3 day relationship between a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old that left 6 people dead”

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          12
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          True, but this isn’t prose or high literature. What reason do you suggest why “his or her” would be preferable to “their” in this context?

          The prescriptivist “It’s grammatically incorrect” argument doesn’t hold much water when it has been used since middle English.

          In a poem, I can see the thought:
          “I tried to fit the cadence of this clause
          Within the measure of this poem’s form
          Which has in past and present be the norm
          By which this poem, too, seeks to adhere.
          This is my authorial choice’s cause
          for my decision not to use a “their”.” But if to find an alternate way to word
          Your writing’s pronouns strikes you as absurd
          I nonetheless opine that you still ought
          To make the token effort to include
          With “their” all people by the same respect
          That you for yourself would from them expect.
          Refusing this, I feel, would be quite rude.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            53 months ago

            Comments here are a short form of writing, therefore people are allowed to phrase things and say things however they would like to. You won’t know someone’s intent before reading, so the way they write makes a difference.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  23 months ago

                  Yes, of course, nothing wrong there. I’m asking what’s wrong with using “they” instead, given that there seems to be some pushback

                  • @[email protected]
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    33 months ago

                    I think the pushback is coming from that’s how the person talk and or wanted to write the sentenc. Why was it so important to you to tell him a different way to write his sentence?

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  23 months ago

                  That’s a habit, not an intent. You implied that there were some deeper intent behind using “he or she” over the shorter and more inclusive “they”. Of course people are allowed to write however they want to, and they’re free to ignore my suggestion. I’m wondering why people are so bent on pushing back against it - what is it about my remark that turned this whole thing into such an involved discussion?

                  • @[email protected]
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    1
                    edit-2
                    3 months ago

                    You don’t think a display of someones habits counts as their form of expression?

                    Edit to add: Noone is up in arms about this, its a calm discussion from my point of view. Maybe you are confused there is even an alternate perspective though?

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              5
              edit-2
              3 months ago

              Then the original comment would read

              hose hings are very poorly made and all he most imporan pars are made of cheap plasic ha an average person can lierally rip off wih his or her bare hands

          • DigitalDilemma
            link
            fedilink
            English
            23 months ago

            Nice ditty.

            What reason do you suggest why “his or her” would be preferable to “their” in this context?

            Regional dialect, fluidity of language, variety - even habit.

            “It’s grammatically incorrect” argument doesn’t hold much water

            Oh, I do respectfully disagree with that, especially when you cite medieval English but reference an American language dictionary as your source.

            I could just as viably give “his or hers” as equally valid as “theirs”, because it is. We’re not newspaper headline writers, nobody penalises us if we use a few more characters for any reason. And you could switch back and forth between them both for variety.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              43 months ago

              Nice ditty.

              Thank you :)

              Regional dialect, fluidity of language, variety - even habit.

              Those explain why it might be the first thing people reach to, but I wasn’t trying to demonise that. I was trying to offer an argument for the alternative that I consider both more convenient to write and read and more inclusive. Habits can be changed.

              Oh, I do respectfully disagree with that, especially when you cite medieval English but reference an American language dictionary as your source.

              Does the nature of the source invalidate the content and points it makes? English is still English, and I was looking for a source that wasn’t Wikipedia, but also was publically accessible. I could have just copied all of Wikipedia’s references, but most of them are books or journals that I don’t expect people to have access to and didn’t individually check. We could debate here what burden of proof is to be expected in an online debate, but I didn’t think the matter to be worth serious discussion.

              The point is the same: there are plenty of historical examples of it being used. To be clear, this is a pre-emptive counterargument to a point I’ve occasionally seen made: That the singular they was a new invention and should be rejected on that ground. If past usage has no bearing on your current decision, that argument obviously holds no weight.

              In the latter case, I contend that the increasing spread, particularly in the context of that spread, legitimises its use for that purpose. I fall in with the descriptivists: Rules should describe contemporary usage, not prescribe it.

              Ultimately, I believe using “they” for gender neutrality is more inclusive for identities outside the binary. I consider the difference in usage trivial enough that the difference in respect justifies it.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                13 months ago

                I was trying to offer an argument for the alternative

                But that’s not what you did, at first anyway. You were looking for an argument. You asked someone to justify something that to you is a slight, with no way of knowing whether the other person intended it that way. They got defensive because they have no idea what you’re getting at, from their perspective you’re just saying “you said something wrong, this is right” without explaining why.

      • GHiLA
        link
        fedilink
        English
        13 months ago

        If you’re correcting, sincerely, then good job.

        If you’re trolling… also, good job.

        Either way 👍

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          13 months ago

          I wasn’t strictly meaning to correct so much as point out a reason why it’s more concise. I value the inclusive motivation too, if that was hard to tell; I just think there is another reason even if you don’t care about inclusion.

          It seems a lot of people are actively opposed to it though, not sure why. I’m just asking questions, you know?

          😉

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 months ago

            I’ll bet a lot of times people just start typing “he” and tack on “or she” when they catch themselves.