Talk:he

“A person whose gender is unknown.” dated?

Yeah, I know that there are a lot of people who would love to see it stop being used, but is it really dated in practice?

Another thing, is its use restricted to when the gender is unknown? What about when the gender is irrelevant or indefinite (could be either)? — Ungoliant ^(falai) 22:18, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Didn't we just have this conversation on one of the Tea/Beer pages? Anyway: 1. Yes, it's dated; you see it in old textbooks but rarely in new ones. I've noticed that a few authors (esp social sciences) mostly/always use "she" in an apparent attempt to redress the balance, while others try to vary it, or avoid using a pronoun. 2. Yeah, often it's irrelevant rather than indefinite, and they just stick in "he" because they need a pronoun to express the thought. Equinox ◑ 22:21, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. I’ve expanded the definition. — Ungoliant ^(falai) 22:24, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

The same, BTW, applies to "man" (and to a lesser extent "mankind"). A 1980s nature documentary would probably have said "man has yet to discover many species in the Amazon", but today that would sound more than a little sexist and pompous, even though I don't suppose the 1980s people had that in mind. Equinox ◑ 22:29, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

It's not a surprise, social sciences are full of feminazis and cultural marxists. No, it's not dated because i use it, and i think the majority of native and non-native speakers (i'm italian) use it. In wikipedia is acceptable to use the american and the british spelling, but if someone use he in an article his edit are changed by the feminazi police. Who are they for saying that he is dated? They're are nothing but motherfuckers totalitarian.

Ask yourselves: is actor a male noun? No, it can be used for both sex, when you know that a person is a male, and when you don't know his sex. But you can use actress only if you know that a person is a female. The same apply to he and she. He is for both sex, she for female. They're paranoid and obsessed, and see sexism everywhere. Using two word for the two sex is sexist, and use a supposed male (and if it can be used for both sex is not) noun or pronoun for both sex is supersexist. They're so sick that see brotherhood as a sexist word. The word man in neutral context and specially as a suffix include both sex.

I'm a freshman, say nothing about the sex of the speaker. But if they're so obsessed, and don't wanna see man as a suffix for professions or positions, i have no problem to see it replaced by -er, because it's used to form nouns that indicate a profession from nouns and verbs. Filosophy -> filosopher, swim -> swimmer. Using person as a suffix or other neologisms make me wanna crash my head into a wall.

I have problems in their insane goal to make english a gender-neutral language. For make it possible we have to erase any word that isn't gender-neutral. Father, mother, brother, sister, and so on, aren't gender-neutral, because father refer to a male parent, and mother to a female parent. We have to erase any reference of the two sex. A child that say mama or dada is sexist, he have to use the new neutral word approved by the Newspeak's Language Board. If they say that mama and dada are sexist and dated, that's must be the True.

They're nuts and totalitarian, if one wanna use he in an article in wikipedia, he have to have the freedom to use it, like one is free to use between the two spelling, and no nut have to change it in that abomination of he or she, or they, because they say that he is dated or sexist, beacause is not.

— This unsigned comment was added by 151.44.205.161 (talk) at 11:17, 2 November 2015 (UTC).

English frequently uses "they" instead of "he" or "she" if the gender is unknown, even if it refers to only one person. Bu193 (talk) 12:00, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

You can use whatever you want, if one is free to use the american or the british spelling, he have to be free to use he. Bu he can't because is proscribed by the feminazis with the excuses that he is "dated" and that in this sentence "A good student always does his homework" his refers only to a male, both of these excuses are lies.

He isn't dated, so that word should be deleted, and should be added that is proscribed by feminists. Wikipedia is full of leftists and cultural marxists authoritarian fascists (at least the administrators) that don't let people to use he (censorship), but they change to other forms that suit their political agenda.

You want to say and write "A good student always does they homework" or "A good student always does his or her homework". Ok good for you, but let people like me who think that the first is a punch in the face, and the second is verbose, to use he because contrary to what feminazis want us to belive, it refers to both sex.

— This unsigned comment was added by 151.47.165.67 (talk) at 13:56, 2 November 2015 (UTC).

I know its not super clear but i believe the dated remark was with regard to its use in writing, not speech. Hence the reference to "style guides" and "writers". As far as im aware it is far from dated in speech, except maybe in universities. Gatchipatchi (talk) 13:51, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

@User:151.47.165.67 You have the least comprehension of the English language, yet you’re morally grandstanding over what people should and should not use. To write the way you do, you must be severely autistic or just a troll hiding in plain sight. Keep to your own kind. Italians are not obliged to master the English language, and it very clearly shows in your grammatical errors. You can have an opinion all you want, but for God's sake don’t be a hypocrite and make sure to hone your linguistic skills before taking a stand in the name of our native language. (KangzSuperKang (talk) 22:27, 7 March 2021 (UTC))

Gay she, lesbian he

See (also) discussions at Talk:she#"Gay_she". - -sche (discuss) 17:24, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

re the sense for "he" instead of "him"

User:Sonofcawdrey, regarding diff, I think what's happening in that cite is not that the author is using he as the objective/accusative in place of him, but that the other subscribes to the view described in be#Usage_notes that be takes the subjective/nominative on both sides, like "is this Pat?" → "it is she"/"it is he"/"it is I".
It probably would be possible to find dialectal cites with other verbs where he is used for him, but then it's a question of whether that should be handled as a dialect-wide rather than lexical/lexeme-specific thing, like how certain dialects use first-person verb forms for the third person or vice versa ("I hates...", "he hate..."); the limited discussions of that we've had led to me removing such senses e.g. from hates. - -sche (discuss) 23:18, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

gender-neutral

If he were gender-neutral, it'd refer to the members of any group with both men and women, not to a male taken as the representative --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:41, 1 August 2021 (UTC)