Mistaken identity - part one

[laylalast]

No: HPFGUIDX 80639


> Lilian wrote:
> 
> > Curious (oh, and BTW, do you notice that JKR 
> > said 'them'. Not her – not him either, but that's
> > another discussion 
> > entirely – but THEM. Plural, two persons at least). Very curious 
> > indeed.
> 
> A minor comment from me:
> 
> Just on this point of JKR's usage: She routinely & everywhere uses 
forms of "they" as the gender-neutral 3rd person singular pronoun, 
even when it's very clear from 
> context that she must have a particular gender or even a particular 
individual in mind. 
> 
> So I don't think we can build the argument on the pronoun.
> 
> (My first post, btw, and lest everyone think I'm a hopeless 
niggler, I should explain that I teach the history of the English 
language and I'm consititutionally incapable of not noticing drifts 
in usage)
> 
> Carin

Lilian:
Thanks Carin, for setting me right and enlightening me on this. Being 
Dutch does still mean that I do not always get the finer nuances. But 
a tiny part of me keeps hoping that JKR might have said that on 
purpose. Who knows?

And now I'm really, really off to bed.