• Makeshift@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    It doesn’t but at this point it should.

    It’s weird and confusing to pluralize a sentence when you’re still talking about a singular individual. We should normalize “Why is they so cute?” If we refuse to make a new non-demeaning word for a singular.

    I say non-demeaning because “Why is it so cute?” Is correct, but calling a living being “it” is objectifying.

    • randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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      9 months ago

      I used to think that too, until I realized that verb conjugation in English is not decided by whether the subject is singular or plural. “You” can be both singular or plural, yet we always say “you are” and never “you is”. Same for the pronoun “they”. It’s always “they are”.

      Unless you is also willing to normalize “you is”, I think “they are” is good enough.