[systemd-devel] [properly] man/pam_systemd.xml: remove heinous use of exclusionary gendered pronoun

[Tom Gundersen]

On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 4:29 AM, Johnathan Zefran <johnZefran at mail.com> wrote:
> The use of a gendered pronoun like 'his' constitutes a rather baffling piece of sexism and misogyny on Lennart's part,

Let's not get carried away, we are just discussing grammar here.

> considering he overwrote a valid gender-neutral pronoun.

I also find "they" more readable than "he" as the gender-neutral
pronoun (and I prefer both to "he or she", which just seems
cumbersome), but note that both are valid and the latter is definitely
more common and is what us poor non-native speakers were taught in
school (and what you still find as the recommended formal form in some
contemporary grammar books), so please have some patience as we try to
figure out how to make our documentation as readable as possible. I
can assure you that there is no malice behind the choice of pronouns.

As to your patch, I don't think it is appropriate. Firstly 'zir' is
not a well-known term, so people will be confused by it, secondly, I
think[0] the usage is wrong as the way I understood the term, zir
refers to someone whose gender identity is neither male nor female or
both male and female, which is not what is intended in the text. So
even if someone knew the term they would be confused by it.

Sorry about that.

Tom

[0]: Emphasis should be on "think": I was unable to verify this
understanding as I could not find a reference in any of the standard
dictionaries.