From: baron@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Dennis Baron)
Subject: Re: [pronouns] Re: Other properties of pronoun usage
Summary: Where is the "themself" corresponding to "yourself"?
Organization: University of Illinois
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 18:42:44 GMT
Keywords: FEMINISMUS DELENDUS EST

In article <8775@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> matt@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil (Matt Rosenblatt) writes:
>From: matt@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil (Matt Rosenblatt)
>Subject: Re: [pronouns] Re: Other properties of pronoun usage
>Summary: Where is the "themself" corresponding to "yourself"?
>Keywords: FEMINISMUS DELENDUS EST
>Date: 28 Aug 92 13:08:25 GMT
>In article <1992Aug20.175726.4398@efi.com> dchung@efi.com (Daniel Chung) 
>writes:
>
>>     I am surprised by the fact that English does not distinguish between
>>one-you and plural-you, when I first learned English.  [Daniel Chung]
>
>The second-person singular subject pronoun used to be "thou," with
>"thee" when used as the object of a sentence, and "thy" as the
>possessive.  The second-person plural used to be "ye," with "you"
>as object and "your" as possessive.  "You" has taken over for both
>singular and plural, subject and object.  Since it started out as a
>plural pronoun, "you" takes a plural verb, even when used to refer
>to a singular:  "You do" vs. *"You does."
>
>There are those who are using "they" as third-person subject pronoun,
>with "them" as object pronoun and "their" as possessive, whether
>referring to a singular antecedent.  This usage goes back several
>centuries.  It is a recognized usage, just as the singular "you" is
>a recognized usage.
>
>But is the singular "they" recognized quite as much as the singular
>"you"?  Let's look at the reflexive pronouns:
>
>                           Plural          Singular
>        Second person   "yourselves"      "yourself"
>        Third person    "themselves"          ?
>
>Everyone is comfortable with the singular reflexive, "yourself."
>Yet, those who use the singular "they" will use a plural reflexive
>pronoun in a sentence like, "Whoever wants dressing with their salad
>will have to add it themselves."  How come people are not as comfortable
>using "themself" as they are using "yourself"?  Is "themself" really 
>an English word?   _Webster's Third New International Dictionary_ 
>lists "yourselves," "yourself," and "themselves," but not "themself."  
>If singular "they" is as much a part of the language as singular "you,"
>how come English has not developed its third-person singular reflexive
>counterpart as English developed the second-person singular reflexive
>"yourself"?
>
>					-- Matt Rosenblatt
>					(matt@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil)

Like it or not, _themself_ is becoming more frequent, as is _theirself_.

Dennis 


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