Language is relentlessly changing for the better.
This question was posed to Americans in both 2007 and 2023.
- Which do you prefer for filling in the blank in this sentence: “A student should thank __________ teacher.”
Four choices were offered:
- their
- his or her
- his
- other
The results?
| their | his or her | his | other | |
| 2007 | 32% | 40% | 25% | 3% |
| 2023 | 68% | 28% | 3% | 1% |
In 16 years, the word “their” in sentences like these has become twice as popular. It’s also become the dominant choice of people applying words to the page. Equally important, the default male pronoun is nearly extinct.
This change has made old, implacable, and bigoted people crazy, of course, in the same ways these people are also incensed over issues like same-sex marriage, gender-neutral restrooms, transgender rights, preferred pronouns, and drag shows.
These people discover – probably on some conservative news program – that a formally plural pronoun is being used to describe a singular person to avoid prioritizing gender, and they react with predictable, boring, stupid outrage:
“What? People are ignoring gender in their pronouns? Using a plural pronoun to describe just one person? Heresy, I tell you! Disaster! What are they teaching in schools today? The world is going to hell and a handbasket!”
No. Not heresy. The world is simply moving on. Evolving. Getting better for more people. These people are simply not evolving like the rest of us. They remain trapped in 2007 while the vast majority of Americans are living in 2023.
Remember when Republican politicians, religious zealots, and stupid bigots declared that same-sex marriage would destroy the foundation of marriage in this country? They warned that allowing same-sex Americans to marry would spell the very end of our society. For years, they fought like hell to deny this basic human right to gay Americans.
What actually happened?
In 2007, more than 60% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage for reasons similar to their opposition to the use of the word “their” as a singular pronoun.
Today, same-sex marriage enjoys a 71% approval rating. The numbers have more than reversed over the same 16-year time period, and same-sex marriage is now legal in the United States.
The world moved on. It evolved. It’s getting better for most people. An increasingly small number of Americans remain opposed to same-sex marriage, essentially because they are bigots, uninformed, or have chosen a buffet-style version of the Bible wherein certain Biblical passages are relevant while hundreds of others are not, but their numbers thankfully grow smaller every year.
People evolve. Society advances. The world becomes better for more people. Those who resist eventually find themselves in the minority. They become angry, they grow old, and they die.
The world moves on without them. Happily so.
There was a time in America when interracial marriage was considered an abomination. In 1961, just 4% of Americans supported an American’s right to marry someone outside their own race.
Today 96% of Americans support the right of Americans to marry someone outside their own race. And 19% of marriages today are comprised of interracial couples.
The old, implacable, and bigoted people of 1961 would lose their damn minds if they knew that all but a tiny sliver of the vilest, most bigoted Americans support interracial marriage.
The same will be true for all of the issues that the old, implacable, and bigoted people are throwing fits about today:
Book banning? It’s happened before, mostly because of the actions of a minority of self-serving politicians who want to score points in the culture war. It’s certainly not new. For a time in America, comic books were almost impossible to publish because of the actions of conservative activists.
Eventually, those book-banning fools are shoved to the side by more reasonable Americans.
Those comic book-banning idiots of the 1950s would lose their damn minds if they saw the power and influence of Marvel today.
Transgender rights? Same thing.
Gender-neutral restrooms? The same.
The world moves on. Sometimes in fits and starts. Occasionally we take a step back before returning to righteousness. But eventually, humans evolve, society advances, and the world gets better for more people.
I wish it were better today. I wish that the old, implacable, and bigoted people would evolve, shut up, or just go away, but until they do, we can fight like hell, stand beside those under attack, and reject their bigotry and stupidity at every turn.
But I suggest you allow yourself a small bit of amusement, too, because the bigots actually think they’re right. The implacable and the traditionalists truly believe in their ridiculous, hopeless cause in the same way that Americans in 1961 opposed interracial marriage.
They might even believe that they will win. In their small, simple minds, they think progress will be forever stymied or permanently reversed.
Allow yourself a small, private laugh at these fools. Giggle at their naivety. Snicker at their stupidity. And remember:
They are just like the cretins who opposed same-sex marriage in 2007.
Just like the bigots who opposed interracial marriage in 1961.
Just like the linguist jackasses who couldn’t imagine the world accepting “their” as a singular pronoun back in 2007.
The battle may be long and hard, but progress, righteousness, and evolution always win.
Take heart in that knowledge.
