English has Rules, Just Like Japanese!

[Ananisapta]

I'm appalled to see the wholesale devastation of my native tongue as the Shadowbringers expansion unfolds. We have a set of clear pronouns, including they, them, and their, all plural. Starting to use them as singular pronouns for reasons unclear is destructive and very disrespectful to English speakers, no matter who does it. It also obscures meaning and arrests the player's attention in ways that will be considered wholly risible as time goes by.

"The King decreed they have earned immediate execution!" is a representative trope. So you tell me, who is they? Are they the King or one of their subjects or all of them? I vote for the fool(s) who made this linguistic blunder. Off with their head(s) forthwith!

[MistakeNot]

I'm appalled to see the wholesale devastation of my native tongue as the Shadowbringers expansion unfolds. We have a set of clear pronouns, including they, them, and their, all plural. Starting to use them as singular pronouns for reasons unclear is destructive and very disrespectful to English speakers, no matter who does it. It also obscures meaning and arrests the player's attention in ways that will be considered wholly risible as time goes by.

"The King decreed they have earned immediate execution!" is a representative trope. So you tell me, who is they? Are they the King or one of their subjects or all of them? I vote for the fool(s) who made this linguistic blunder. Off with their head(s) forthwith!

While English does indeed have some rules, it mainly has exceptions.
One rule it does NOT have is that they can only be used in plural. The use of singular they is perfectly correct English, and isn't a new invention either - it has been used since the 14th century or so.

[Iscah]

Singular "they", a valid part of the English language since the 14th century according to Wikipedia, highly useful in all situations where you need to refer to a person without knowing their gender, and following all the same grammatical rules as the plural version.

Pixies are genderless, so you have a choice of "they" or "it". Except not really a choice, because we have social rules about not referring to a person as "it".

[Mimilu]

So you tell me, who is they?

Boy complaining about the rules of English but is asking "who is they?" and not "who are they?"... >w>
No one ever asks "How is they?"... >n>

[Gula]

College English class might be getting to your head a bit or you've got to be trolling.

[MaraD_]

I do find it odd that "they" became singular.
We used "person" and "one" to be singular, along with "it".
("Man" also used to be a neutral word, not referencing a gender, but an adult. There was only a word for a female adult, "woman" which means people HAD to use he word man for male, but they could choose between the two for females. As time went on, we shifted to using "man" to solely mean "male" simply because there was no word to only reference a male adult. I dont know when this took place, as it was a VERY slow transition, but was within the last 200 years or less. (Id imagine closer to 80-100 years)

While "it" is technically more correct, it oddly became considered rude to refer to a person as "it", even though "they" had the same context at the time.
But since occurrences of multiple people happened more often, "they" became more normal than "it" in singular cases.
Peopel came up with a counter to say "A person is" or "that person is" for referencing a singular person. Along with "One" such as "One would be remembered if".
But both of those seem to have died off in favor of "they".
(Despite "they" being the plural version of "it".)

It is a strange occurrence.

[Wyvernheart]

When I don't know someone's gender I say IT or THING. As in, "what is it!?" Or, "look at that thing!"

[Brightmore]

When I don't know someone's gender I say IT or THING. As in, "what is it!?" Or, "look at that thing!"

You wrote, you read it. Now do it again.
Ok.
Once more.
If after thrice, you still think it's okay.
Well, please, a number one.

[Iscah]

When I don't know someone's gender I say IT or THING. As in, "what is it!?" Or, "look at that thing!"

And how would that work with the examples given in the Wikipedia article I linked earlier?

"Somebody left their umbrella in the office. Would they please collect it?"
"The patient should be told at the outset how much they will be required to pay."
"But a journalist should not be forced to reveal their sources."

Could you write those sentences with "it"? Would that seem appropriate? Would it be better English?

"Somebody left its umbrella in the office. Would it please collect it?"
"The patient should be told at the outset how much it will be required to pay."
"But a journalist should not be forced to reveal its sources."

It might be grammatically correct, but it's not the normal word you use in that situation.

There's nothing new or remarkable about using "they". You probably don't even notice it in most contexts.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm appalled to see the wholesale devastation of my native tongue as the Shadowbringers expansion unfolds. We have a set of clear pronouns, including they, them, and their, all plural. Starting to use them as singular pronouns for reasons unclear is destructive and very disrespectful to English speakers, no matter who does it. It also obscures meaning and arrests the player's attention in ways that will be considered wholly risible as time goes by.

"The King decreed they have earned immediate execution!" is a representative trope. So you tell me, who is they? Are they the King or one of their subjects or all of them? I vote for the fool(s) who made this linguistic blunder. Off with their head(s) forthwith!

If you were as big of an English buff as you’d lead us to believe—complaining about grammatical choices of an English localization—you’d realize that singular “they”, “them”, and “their” are already widely used and widely accepted as grammatically correct.

“Could the individual with the red Ford Taurus parked in the Fire Lane please move their vehicle?”

“We found someone’s pet husky in our yard. Could the owner please call us at the following number? We would like to return him to them.”

“Someone parked their truck right behind of us! They’re completely blocking us in!”

The language wasn’t butchered. And I’d honestly hate to see what you consider disrespectful if you think using these pronouns in a correct, singular manner is disrespectful to English speakers.

Sincerely,
A Native English Speaker