The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-12-29
WHOLE NO. 1877
Wanted-a Pronoun.

Nanted-a PrOnOun.
Richard Grant White bas been
writing for the Gaiary series Of
articles on Words and their Uses"
Some of his criticisms are very good,
and Others not so good. A core
spondent recently addressed him
letter setting forth the necessity of a
new English pronoun of the common
gender. As an example of the 10.
convenience caused by this want, he .
gives the following sentence;
"It person wishes to sleep, tbey
mustn't eat cheese for supper"
"Of course" be says, ''that is in
correct; yet almost every one would
say they. Few would say, in COM
mon conversation: If q person
wishes to sleep, be or she mustn't
eat cheese for supper. IL is too
much trouble. We must have a
word to take the place Of he or she,
his or 5ers. him or her, etc"
To this Mr. White replies: First,
the thing can't be done; last, it is not
at all necessary or desirable tha it
should be done"
This is wha: might be called snap
judgment, and we are inclined to dis
sent from Mr. Whites arbitrary de-
cisions until be makes out a some
what clearer case. To say that the
English language cannot be mended,
if it needs mending, is an insult TO
fhesY ankee mind, whose inactive tai /
'ent is as capable Of producing new
parts of speech as it is Of producing /
new parts Of machinery
That the Introduction Of new /
pronoun into the anguage sis not at |
all necessary or desirable" is not 20 1
be decided by Mr. Whites ipse dirit .
alone. We agree with him that the 4
Inconvenience which his correspond I
ent supp0ses to exist in the example /
be submits may be avoided. We /
think the next Woman's Rights con-
yeqtion would and should object to, /,
the first method of avoiding il which |
be proposes, namely: ''If man
wishes 20 sleep, be must not eat
cheese for supper" But every speak I
er Of good common sense and fair
mastery of the mother tongue would I
say, in accordance with this second /
suggestion, "If one wishes to sleep, I
one mustn't" etc.
There are other Inconvenience, Z
however, resulting from the want Of
a pronoun of the common gender,
the greatest OF W which is that at which /
his correspondent just hints, and Of
which Mr. Willie himself takes 10
nOticc-the necessity Of employing
two or three pronouns where one
might be made to answer. How fre- |
queGtly, in ordinary discourse, SEN I
tences are begun which must either
contain an undue share of prOnouns,
be finished ungramatically, or be re-
constructed altogether-a three horn
ea Dilemma We go into the court
room, and hear q member of the bar
plead, "The offender against law, if
he suffers its penalties, meets his just
deserts" and we wonder at the un-
just insinuation OF the defender of
justice, that the offender against law
is uniformly Of the masculine gender.
We go to church aud we hear the
minister proclaim from the pulpit,
The sinner, if be would be saved.
must repent" and if we did not
kLow that the Bible speaks of "a
woman that was a sinner" and that
the sex in general have need of re-
pentanee, We would be led to infer |
that men alone are sinners. We visit |
the office of our physician, and he
tells us that ''the health Of human /
being, whether man, woman or child,
is essential to-ah-" and then hens
and haws as if hunting for new
pronOun to fill the awkward gap,
finally taking the shortest cut out of
the difficulty and completing the SEN
tenee with their happiness" While !
we are impressed by the profound re-
mark, we wonder how he would parse !
it. Now the lawyer might say, |
"his or ber Just desert, but be dOn'J; |
the minister might say, che or she |
must repent" but be don't; the ply
sieian might say, his, her, or its
happiness but be don't. They don't, |
simply because the best speakers and
writers of the language don't-and !
there's the rub. Mr.. Richard Grant
White himself don't In another
portion of the same article in which |
be discusses the necessity Of max |
ing q prOnOuD," commenting upon
the use of the word dress" be says,
THE general observer, casting his
eye over a room full of women" etc.
thus robbing woman o. her claim
to the title of general observer, when
every one knows she has the better
right to it, especially in the matter Of
dress, and in room full of her own
sex.
We know that Inconvenience OF
this kind might easily be overcome
by circumlocutory methods which
mastery knowledge of the language
would suggest without the introduc
ton Of a new part Of speech; but the
masses are not masters of language,
and we submit if better way OF
overcoming the difficulty would not
be tae coming Of new word which
would answer as a medium of cireu-
lation among all classes One thing
is certain, there viii be cause for
complaint until our fterati gives us
better English or new pronoun.