Gender neutrality gone mad

[Blaze]

The journalist who wrote this article should have been jumped on by whoever authorises articles to go to print in the Swindon Advertiser :

A DRIVER has found themselves without a car after being pulled over by police.
The Vauxhall Corsa was pulled over whilst travelling through Swindon, when the vehicle came to the attention of a Roads Policing Unit officer.
Further checks revealed that the driver had no insurance for their vehicle after they failed to keep up with their regular payments and their policy was removed.
Police seized the car and handed the driver an automatic £300 fine and six points on their driving license.

If this is an example of what we will see in the obsession with gender neutrality, heaven help us. When I was taught English grammar at school, they, their and themselves were plural pronouns (personal, possessive and reflexive), so why is the journalist using plural pronouns to refer to one person ?

He could, of course, have used "it" but any journalist worth his salt could have written the article to avoid the use of pronouns !!!

No, I certainly don't read the Swindon Advertiser, but a friend passed the article onto me knowing I'd react !

[Pathca]

At least they don’t identify as a cat

[Blaze]

Not quite sure what you mean, Pathca !! A cat ?

[Lori]

Yes, wasn't there a student somewhere in the UK that identified as a cat?? I think I read that not too long ago... Sigh

[Pathca]

Well one lot said there was someone another said there wasn’t ,but apparently it’s not unheard of.

[niemeyjt]

baby.png

Sums it up.

Julian
(me/my/mine)

[MAD87]

Perhaps the journalist didn't know the gender of the driver, having got the story second-hand. He, she (or they ) then hedged his/her/(dare I?) their bets.
Seriously, Blaze, I'm 100% with you.
I iodentify as Mad (my name and initials too).

[Blaze]

@MAD87
You're too forgiving, Mad !!
The journalist should have been able to write the article without using pronouns :
A driver is without a car after being pulled over by police.
Further checks revealed that the driver had no insurance for the vehicle after failing to keep up with regular payments and the policy was removed. (invalidated/cancelled).
Police seized the car and an automatic £300 fine and six points was added to driving licence of the driver.

I'm no journalist, but when I read some of the grammar and spelling in newspapers, particularly on line, I despair.
And just look at the spelling of "licence" in the original text ... or was the journalist was American ?

[exile]

I am not trying to justify what reads as very poor use of English, but is it possible that the case was still sub judice? Until the fine is paid, the driver always has the option of going to court. As such anything that might help identify the accused (including ther sex) could land the newspaper in court.

I have just recently seen on the TV another case where this threat has created what seems to be a nonsense in the reporting. It seems two groups of people fell out with one another and a small riot broke out, with a victim lying in the middle of the street being kicked and other throwing what seemed to be bottles at the perpetrators. All had been captured on a mobile phone. When broadcast the faces of those involved had all be blurred out. Sub Judice was quoted as the reason.

[Blaze]

I am not trying to justify what reads as very poor use of English, but is it possible that the case was still sub judice? Until the fine is paid, the driver always has the option of going to court. As such anything that might help identify the accused (including ther sex) could land the newspaper in court.

Exactly. Hence my comment that it is easy enough to write an article in a way that avoids identifying the sex of the driver - the journalist was either unable to or chose not to and thus produced a badly-written article.