User request: reflect representatives' gender in the wording of the site

mysociety / writetothem

Write to your MP, MEP, & other elected representatives.

https://www.writetothem.com

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User request: reflect representatives' gender in the wording of the site #336

Open MyfanwyNixon opened 8 years ago

MyfanwyNixon commented 8 years ago

When it comes to writing to an individual, a single named person, it would make better sense for you to say “Write to him or her”...and not use the plurals Them and Their; though admittedly my MP, Liam Fox used to come in plural form, but has been shown the error of his ways, I/we hope. From a native English speaker This letter could be annoying, but so is your wording.

How close are we to incorporating Gender Balance data or whatever is necessary to make this happen? :/

dracos commented 8 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Usage and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Usage_guidance_in_British_style_guides would seem to disagree; why do people assume what they were presumably taught in school is "right"? Looks like most uses I can find are in error messages, anyway.