From: Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@gmail.com>
To: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>,
"Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Cc: git@vger.kernel.org, gitster@pobox.com,
sandals@crustytoothpaste.net, stolee@gmail.com,
jrnieder@gmail.com, emilyshaffer@google.com,
Derrick Stolee <derrickstolee@github.com>,
Derrick Stolee <dstolee@microsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:47:22 -0500 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <60becc2adf199_dcf6520847@natae.notmuch> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <875yyp4fun.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com>
Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 07 2021, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget wrote:
> > If the reader does not consider that pronoun to apply to them,
> > then they can experience cognitive dissonance that removes focus from
> > the information. [...]
> > When choosing a gendered pronoun, that pronoun no longer applies to
> > nearly half of possible readers. Even if we alternated between "he/him"
> > and "she/her" perfectly evenly, we would still expect male and female
> > readers to experience an incorrect pronoun half the time. However, some
> > readers will not prescribe to either of these binary genders. Those
> > readers hence suffer an incorrect pronoun the entire time. Singular
> > "they" applies to every reader.
>
> I'd expect most people to not actively read technical documentation and
> try to personally actively ascribe themselves to prose that clearly
> forms an example of something they may or may not do.
>
> If that is how people commonly read documentation and find it
> off-putting I'd expect gendered language to be the least of our
> problems, since even with s/\bhe|she\b/they/g so much of what's left is
> still referring to hypothetical situations most users won't want to find
> themselves in.
>
> Maybe I'm overthinking this, but per the above I'd think if this is a
> problem with losing the reader that we'd need more structural solutions
> to it in the common case, e.g. more guarded language that you should not
> read further if you don't care about XYZ aspect of the technical feature
> we're about to discuss.
Personally I have no trouble at all reading instructions mentioning a
female user and see how they apply to me just the same.
Using a singular "they" for semantically singular antecedents does sound
totally broken to me, and that does distract me from what the
documentation is supposedly trying to transmit.
I have trouble parsing the documentation as it is--which does feel to be
in a very detached and unpersonal style. Changes like s/s?he/they/ only
make the situation worse. I would rather have the documentation speak to
me more like a person, and less like a previous-generation AI.
Cheers.
--
Felipe Contreras
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-06-08 1:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 124+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-06-07 16:57 [PATCH 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-07 16:57 ` [PATCH 1/4] Documentation: use singular they " Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-07 17:09 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-07 17:32 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-07 17:42 ` Andrei Rybak
2021-06-07 18:21 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-10 7:44 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-10 14:35 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-07 21:36 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 18:47 ` Phillip Susi
2021-06-09 20:26 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-11 15:40 ` Phillip Susi
2021-06-11 17:03 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-10 18:30 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-11 0:16 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-11 16:00 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-12 14:02 ` Phillip Susi
2021-06-08 1:18 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-08 8:51 ` Kerry, Richard
2021-06-08 23:21 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-09 13:13 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-10 3:11 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-08 17:33 ` Emily Shaffer
2021-06-08 18:03 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 13:44 ` Kerry, Richard
2021-06-09 17:44 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-25 14:30 ` Kerry, Richard
2021-06-09 4:48 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-10 8:18 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-10 14:42 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-14 22:10 ` Robert Karszniewicz
2021-06-07 16:57 ` [PATCH 2/4] *: use singular they in comments Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-07 17:12 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-07 17:20 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-10 8:20 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-07 19:02 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-07 21:44 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-08 17:36 ` Emily Shaffer
2021-06-07 16:57 ` [PATCH 3/4] *: fix typos Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-08 17:37 ` Emily Shaffer
2021-06-10 8:36 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-10 19:53 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-11 9:55 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-07 16:57 ` [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-07 18:31 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-08 1:47 ` Felipe Contreras [this message]
2021-06-07 18:56 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-07 19:05 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-08 0:05 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-10 21:34 ` brian m. carlson
2021-06-10 8:39 ` Johannes Schindelin
2021-06-07 20:00 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 18:29 ` Phillip Susi
2021-06-09 20:18 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-07 20:20 ` Robert Karszniewicz
2021-06-07 22:18 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-08 7:10 ` Jeff King
2021-06-08 8:11 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 13:23 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-09 15:20 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-10 22:06 ` brian m. carlson
2021-06-11 16:11 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-08 17:39 ` Emily Shaffer
2021-06-09 4:44 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-09 13:27 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-07 20:10 ` [PATCH 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 13:54 ` [PATCH v2 " Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-09 13:54 ` [PATCH v2 1/4] Documentation: use singular they " Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-09 15:33 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 13:54 ` [PATCH v2 2/4] *: use singular they in comments Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-09 15:41 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 13:54 ` [PATCH v2 3/4] *: fix typos Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-09 13:54 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-09 15:50 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-09 15:44 ` [PATCH v2 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-09 17:22 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-10 2:03 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-10 2:28 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-10 3:30 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-10 22:32 ` brian m. carlson
2021-06-10 22:58 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-11 16:32 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-11 17:18 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-11 20:38 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-13 7:17 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-15 6:02 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-15 13:36 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-15 17:03 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-14 0:47 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-15 14:11 ` [PATCH v3 0/4] Avoid gendered pronouns Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-15 14:11 ` [PATCH v3 1/4] doc: avoid using the gender of other people Felipe Contreras via GitGitGadget
2021-06-15 14:11 ` [PATCH v3 2/4] comments: avoid using the gender of our users Felipe Contreras via GitGitGadget
2021-06-15 14:11 ` [PATCH v3 3/4] *: fix typos Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-15 14:11 ` [PATCH v3 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
2021-06-15 16:19 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-15 17:26 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-16 2:47 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-16 5:06 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-16 9:26 ` Bagas Sanjaya
2021-06-16 17:44 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-16 19:54 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-16 23:22 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-17 0:09 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-17 13:22 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-17 14:53 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-17 17:06 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-17 15:25 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-18 0:26 ` brian m. carlson
2021-06-18 16:12 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-17 15:23 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-17 15:58 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-18 0:53 ` brian m. carlson
2021-06-18 7:24 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-18 16:40 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-19 7:03 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-28 22:32 ` Junio C Hamano
2021-06-29 1:31 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-29 1:53 ` Derrick Stolee
2021-06-29 12:29 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2021-06-17 15:12 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-17 14:46 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-15 17:08 ` Felipe Contreras
2021-06-12 4:40 ` [PATCH 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate Bagas Sanjaya
2021-06-12 14:19 ` Phillip Susi
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