Linguistics professor argues to eliminate gender pronouns "he" and "she" in favor of "ze" or "they."

Let's cut to the chase of Professor John McWhorter's argument:


"We are opening up to the idea that binary conceptions of gender are unnecessarily rigid and don't correspond to the self-image of a great many people, and even that people's sense of their gender may not correspond to their biological sex. In this new world, a bland opposition between "he" and "she" seems increasingly antique, and even insulting, to many."


Yada, yada, yada...after explaining how people have learned to say "Billy and I" as opposed to "Billy and me," Prof. McWhorter continues:


"Now, I would hope that pronouns like "ze" would not be imposed with the knuckle-rapping and contemptuous indignation with which the Billy and I rule has been promulgated. However, there is room for presenting "ze" as a matter not of fashion, but of basic civility -- people must think of new pronouns as the proper thing to do, not as a stunt."


In reality, "ze" just sounds like a Hollywood stereotype of a Nazi soldier, with a chest full of medals, holding a baton, as he paces across a room while espousing some view.

"Ze problem wiz ze gender pronounz iz that ze binary conzeptions are unezzezarily reegid."

Yeah. Let's try "they" first and see how that flies, eh?