THEY

I am typing in stunned disbelief.  I use the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary when I'm in doubt about a spelling or definition.  It's handy.

Each year, the M-W people name a "word of the year"; e.g. in 2018 it was "justice", in 2017 it was "feminism", in 2016 it was "surreal" and in 2015 it was "-ism".   Other dictionaries might have different words.  To be fair, the selection process is based on searches on their website.  But still, how could this be true?  The 2019 word of the year, the one most often searched-for English language word this year, is "they".

Of course, it's only because I'm "old" and "out of touch" that I'm surprised.  It got right by me.  I never looked up that word once.   It seems "they" has taken on a completely new alternate meaning and usage this year.  Who knew?  Evidently, a lot of people realized it and checked the definition.

The modern English language dates to sometime between 1350 and 1550.  So, for at least 469 years, "they" was a pronoun referring to a group of people; e.g. "they went to school."  If you were talking about one person, you would say, ""he or she" went to school."  Now it comes to pass in these enlightened times, that there are those people who are binary or unsure of their sexuality.  The world has chosen to refer these people as "they or them" even though there is just one.  "They" and "them" can now refer to a single person.  Evidently, this is what drove so many people to look up the word "they" in the on-line dictionary.

Change is very difficult for the elderly.  We find it painful to move our body even a little.  Our minds are deteriorating as quickly as our sinews.  Now, you want us to adapt to basic changes to our language?   No wonder they put us in 'homes' where we can be watched.  "They" are after us. ( or is it "is"?)

Stop!  Let me get off the ship.  I can't take it any more.
😡