shouldn't it read "He/She Disrupted Poorly"

[hiphopnation]

on the disrupter headstone thing? I mean, do we automatically assume that all trolls are men? just sayin...
:shrug:

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Most freepers are men

But calling them he-she's might actually bother them a lot!

[benburch]

3. Even their women...

[El Fuego]

23. "Their men were real MEN. Their women were real MEN."

And the saga continues.

[In_The_Wind]

2. eh ~ how would we really know if the disruptor was male or female?

:shrug:

[Jed Dilligan]

4. How about "it"?

I love to dehumanize the enemy

[In_The_Wind]

5. That sounds good.

[BlueIris]

25. Well, at least it doesn't leave people thinking DU.com makes assumptions.

Well, except for the assuption that most disruptors are asshats who have abdicated their human obligation to be decent (or, you know, claim a part in humanity and thus, a gender). Sorry, I haven't had enough coffee.

[Redstone]

26. And most of them are male asshats. Who live in Mom's basement.

Where they pick their pimples incessantly between bouts of bloviating braggadocio.

Redstone

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Because in standard English usage...

'he' is a perfectly acceptable third-person singular pronoun for a person of undefined gender (third-person singular pronouns not being gender neutral, 'he' has been traditionally used; this has changed some, thanks to feminism, but to say 'he/she' is awkward, and 'they' is not singular).

[hiphopnation]

7. right

well, it was a thought...

I like the "it" suggestion.

"It disrupted poorly"...it'a nice image. Makes it sound like an alien was here...

[meow2u3]

14. Here is the new tombstone. You asked for it

[hiphopnation]

15. well done!

thanks for that!

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Damn near archaic now

Very few current style manuals or editors still accept "he" as a gender neutral pronoun. And yes, this change is definitely due to feminism. If you read books now in which gender is uncertain (baby manuals, for instance), they almost always alternate between "he" and "she" rather than use the admittedly clumsy "he/she" construction, but they certainly don't use "he" uniformly as gender neutral. In other contexts, most people will try to go towards a plural antecedent and use "they." The notion of he as a gender neutral usage went out in about 1986, and is not even used by the stodgiest law firms or English professors anymore. The MLA has a specific policy against using "he" as a gender neutral pronoun in English, if I'm not mistaken.

[Arugula Latte]

9. I don't think "s/he" is awkward.

Using only "he" is very awkward -- It always used to confuse me when I was a kid that that was standard. It doesn't work anymore.

[I Have A Dream]

11. I agree. If it feels awkward to people, I think that it's only because...

this is not what they're used to using. Personally, I'm insulted when I hear or read 'he' as a neutral word. Try using 'she' in place of it and see how many men get insulted. (I've actually seen this, and I found it to be quite amusing.) I don't understand how the same people wouldn't understand how some women wouldn't also be insulted by the neutral use of 'he'.

(By the way, to anyone who states that 'he' is grammatically correct, I know this fact. I just think that it's time for a change in the English language, and I'm doing my part to make this change occur.)

[Gormy Cuss]

13. S/he is awkward, as are some other attempts to be gender neutral

in language. We need to develop a set of gender neutral third person singular pronouns. The third person plural forms are gender neutral (when all members of a group are female, we refer to 'them' not 'hers,' for example.) 'It' is genderless and could be used as a universal third person if we could get over that fact.

In my professional career I've had to deal with this sort of issue and found that the best solution is to rework the sentences to avoid use of the third person singular pronouns whenever possible. For the DU tombstone, it could simply say "Here lies a disruptor" and that would solve the problem.

I grew up with 'he' as generic and never found it limiting or confusing for me personally, but in junior high there were dunderheads who pointed to the pervasive use of the masculine pronoun as proof that girls weren't included.

[tjwmason]

17. S/he is easy in written English

but is far too much for normal spoken English.

The facility of access (both written and spoken) is definitely at the base of the singular use of they.

[Derailer]

18. the third person neuter pronoun should be

herm

[hiphopnation]

19. LMAO!

"Herm disrupted poorly"

Too close to "worm", which works in this context, but try sending a letter to a lawyer, referencing an unkown, third-party buyer as "herm". :rofl:

[DBoon]

10. how about "that wretched bastard disrupted poorly"

gender neutral, right?

[FuzzySlippers]

12. Unfortunately, not everyone who gets a tombstone is a troll.

People who ask that their accounts be deleted get one as well. One very dear friend of mine has one.x(

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

16. Why bother to sex a troll at all?

Sterilize 'em all, THEN put 'em under the tombstone.

It's the humane thing to do, you see.

[El Fuego]

24. Birth control for trolls.

[Kat45]

20. How about: "Here lies a disruptor who disrupted poorly"?

:shrug:

[NewJeffCT]

27. it's a take off from Indiana Jones

The Last Crusade movie at the end where the knight says, "he chose... poorly"

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. I vote for "It" as well

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. "He disrupted poorly" is a citation of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

no? that's why it takes the specific shape that it does. Am I totally wrong about this?

The Guardian of the Grail, yeah?

[NewJeffCT]

28. damn, I need to learn to read the whole thread first!

Yes, you are correct. The guardian of the grail says, after the evil nazi guy dies, "he choose... poorly"