Culture | Johnson

Who do they think they are?

The battle over the singular use of “they” has been waged for centuries

GRAMMAR HAS rarely produced as much public acrimony as in the battle over pronouns being waged around the world. In one skirmish in 2015, the University of Tennessee offered guidance on referring to non-binary students on its website, only for political blowback to lead to a legislative ban on spending public money to support non-traditional pronouns. Jordan Peterson, a controversial Canadian academic, has refused to use invented pronouns or “they” in relation to people who identify as neither male nor female. Many fulminating commentators spy political correctness running amok yet again.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Who do they think they are?”

The horrible housing blunder: Why the obsession with home ownership is so harmful

From the January 18th 2020 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
A still from 'Big Short' (2015).

The six best films about financial turmoil

Watch these titles when you can no longer watch the ticker

Viola Davis and Ramón Rodríguez in G20 as secret agents.

What to watch this weekend

Survival lessons from Viola Davis, Jon Hamm and Pedro Pascal


The word "they" in a red sans serif font with the word "he" overlayed on the H and the E in a blackletter font

Pronouns have become extremely divisive

These short words are at the centre of a big political debate


Why you should believe in God. Or Allah. (But not Baal)

Ross Douthat believes everyone should believe. Readers may have doubts

Would you turn your home into a museum?

The recently renovated Frick Collection is a testament to a bygone era