From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-5.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS,URIBL_BLOCKED autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EBC2C48BCD for ; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 02:28:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED41261407 for ; Thu, 10 Jun 2021 02:28:13 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S229705AbhFJCaI (ORCPT ); Wed, 9 Jun 2021 22:30:08 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp20.pobox.com ([173.228.157.52]:53547 "EHLO pb-smtp20.pobox.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S229507AbhFJCaH (ORCPT ); Wed, 9 Jun 2021 22:30:07 -0400 Received: from pb-smtp20.pobox.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7702114FB9E; Wed, 9 Jun 2021 22:28:12 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed; d=pobox.com; h=from:to:cc :subject:references:date:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; s=sasl; bh=4rJil9YICmGk GWR9uzwKwAFNjVkdF+Xuge7nwdrlKS4=; b=lYxoI6/SXzTacEIocNhmgfkls1Zr aRzQ5sYTgqGXFgbeDujUsUdw2dNab8Z+hFMlhvc7zqVdVEHgAulY+h8YVyndmMP8 0rzJRogVOo/DHdz5bpIlDqFOFUspB+BhB7baLXhl5013QIt3FQEGlSmETPz1EbAh eEkkPzxqVAt46Pk= Received: from pb-smtp20.sea.icgroup.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6E55714FB9D; Wed, 9 Jun 2021 22:28:12 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) Received: from pobox.com (unknown [104.196.172.107]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pb-smtp20.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id B880D14FB9B; Wed, 9 Jun 2021 22:28:09 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from junio@pobox.com) From: Junio C Hamano To: =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason Cc: Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget , git@vger.kernel.org, sandals@crustytoothpaste.net, stolee@gmail.com, jrnieder@gmail.com, emilyshaffer@google.com, Andrei Rybak , Felipe Contreras , Robert Karszniewicz , Jeff King , "Kerry, Richard" , Derrick Stolee Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/4] Use singular "they" when appropriate References: <87a6nz2fda.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 11:28:08 +0900 In-Reply-To: (Junio C. Hamano's message of "Thu, 10 Jun 2021 11:03:35 +0900") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.2 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 X-Pobox-Relay-ID: 7F4804F8-C993-11EB-B7A7-D5C30F5B5667-77302942!pb-smtp20.pobox.com Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Junio C Hamano writes: > =C3=86var Arnfj=C3=B6r=C3=B0 Bjarmason writes: > >> + When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when >> + addressing the the hypothetical user, and possibly "we" when >> + discussing how the program might react to the user. > > Because I still get a funny feeling whenever I see a singular they, > which I was taught to be ungrammatical in my foreign language > classes long time ago, I kind of like this approach better, if we > can pull it off. > > I wonder if we can avoid third-person entirely, though. Git is primarily a communication medium used among developers, and when one side is referred to as "you", the other side needs some pronoun to explain inter-developer interactions. We could say "you as the integrator would have to ask my sign-off from me as a contributor" to avoid third-person, but I suspect that this quickly becomes just as awkward as using singular they. I wonder if this makes it more workable: When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when addressing the the hypothetical user, and "they" in plural when you need to talk about a third-party that interacts with "you", and possibly "we" when discussing how the program might react to the user. That way, we'd say "You'd ask their sign-off from contributors". I'd stop here and continue watching from sidelines. I think the topic tries to solve an issue worth solving, but I suspect that a solution that requires singular they would not work as well as a solution that doesn't would, especially for non native speakers like me.