EP is the perfect 3rd person singular gender-neutral pronoun that English needs, something less plural-looking than "they".
EP also has a beautiful etymology to support this new usage:
ETYMOLOGY
epicene (adj.)
"belonging to or including both sexes," mid-15c., epycen, originally a grammatical term for nouns that may denote either gender, from Latin epicoenus "common," from Greek epikoinos "common to many, promiscuous," from epi "on" (see epi-) + koinos "common" (see coeno-). English has no need of it in its grammatical sense. Extended sense of "characteristic of both sexes" first recorded in English c. 1600; that of "effeminate" is from 1630s.
From EPICENE (adjective)
ep•i•cene | \ ˈe-pə-ˌsēn \
Definition of epicene
1 of a noun : having but one form to indicate either sex
2a : having characteristics typical of the other sex
Comments by magdahightower
magdahightower commented on the word ep
EP is the perfect 3rd person singular gender-neutral pronoun that English needs, something less plural-looking than "they".
EP also has a beautiful etymology to support this new usage:
ETYMOLOGY
epicene (adj.)
"belonging to or including both sexes," mid-15c., epycen, originally a grammatical term for nouns that may denote either gender, from Latin epicoenus "common," from Greek epikoinos "common to many, promiscuous," from epi "on" (see epi-) + koinos "common" (see coeno-). English has no need of it in its grammatical sense. Extended sense of "characteristic of both sexes" first recorded in English c. 1600; that of "effeminate" is from 1630s.
From EPICENE (adjective)
ep•i•cene | \ ˈe-pə-ˌsēn \
Definition of epicene
1 of a noun : having but one form to indicate either sex
2a : having characteristics typical of the other sex
b : EFFEMINATE
3 : lacking characteristics of either sex
REFERENCES
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epicene
https://www.etymonline.com/word/epicene
USAGE
compare to current forms:
he/she/it – these cover the 3rd person singular for binary people (he/she) and for inanimates/things/animals (it)
proposed new forms:
he, she, ep, it
The possessive form of EP would be formed by the same rules as the current ones (no apostrophe):
Current: his, hers, its
New: his, hers, eps, its
In contractions, also using the same rules:
he’ll (he will) = ep’ll (ep will)
she’d (she would) = ep’d (ep would)
it’s (it is) = ep’s (ep is)
Thanks!
June 21, 2020
magdahightower commented on the user rg210
Thank you for this info that is new to me! I look forward to playing soon!
June 21, 2020