Pronouns came up in conversation recently.
Through circumstances largely beyond my control, I was at dinner a few nights ago with six or seven strangers. It wasn’t hard to read the room. They were all upper middle class, all white and all “seasoned,” which is a euphemism for “senior,” which is a euphemism for “old.” I fit right in.
Their conservative values revealed themselves quickly. One woman said she was from Northern California, emphasizing “Northern,” carefully — if dubiously — distinguishing it from Southern California, which is filled with “aliens.”
And “What did you do for a living?” someone asked me. Oh, I’m just a retired English teacher. Which got us around to the subject of pronouns. What about those people who aren’t satisfied with traditional pronouns such as “I,” “me” and “my” and prefer “they” and “their” to refer to themselves or even “ze,” “hir” or “per”?
“That’s B.S.!” exclaimed Ms. Northern California, dispensing with the acronym.