Gender, Labels & Grammar

It seems that the very people who dislike being labelled are labelling themselves. If he/she prefers to be genderless then, unless it's relevant (e.g. medical issues), I totally agree. However, the common practice of using 'they' instead of the singular, genderless 'it' (or maybe create a new word) makes 'them' seem scizophrenic. 

For example, an extract from Wikipedia "They co-created, co-wrote and starred in..." refers only to Mae Martin and does not include any other person(s) who co-created/co-wrote or starred. It's confusing. Also, I can't bring myself to say 'they is brilliant'.

It's a grammar thing which I know that I need to accept, similar to the common mis-use of  'different to' (cringe) or 'compared to' and 'people that...' (see notes) but, well, it's difficult. Don't get me started on 'could of' or 'your' when it should be 'you're'... Language changes between generations and my generation was traditionally taught. All I can do is quietly accept declining standards of grammar and not deliver a rant to the perpertators (unless, of course, they ask me to).

On the topic of labelling, I've never felt the need to belong to a group, whether non-binary, feminist, political or anything else. People are people and it's nobody else's business if there are differences - it's what makes humans interesting. Imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same; might as well be robots.

Similarly, religion. Be atheist, hindu, christian, or whatever you believe. Explain your choice if asked but do not, ever, bully the rest of the world to join you. Religion is your belief, just as Santa Claus is a 3-year old child's belief. In fact, on the face of it, there is more evidence of Santa's magic than any god's miracles, in recent times. Take comfort in your belief but please don't force it upon others. 

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Notes 

The Grammar Thing:
- different from (always, unless using the American 'different than');
- compared with (when comparing like with like; 'compared to' should only be used when the comparison is not comparable, e.g. a person and a summer’s day;
- people who, not people that, please. Simple guidelines:
    -- Who is always used to refer to people (the person who...);
    -- That is used for mostly everything else, e.g. objects, animals, groups
        (the cat that... that team that...).

Non-gender-specific: There is a place for 'they'. For example, when writing a business plan, it can be introduced as a term which can refer to he, she or more than one person, thereby avoiding multiple future edits.