Re: Sie/hir

[Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US>]

Antole Wilson writes"
>I have to say I don't understand "sie/hir."  How is it supposed to be used,
>and if the terms are supposed to mask gender, why are there two terms
instead
>of just one? Seems to me you could easily suppose that "sie" means "his"
and
>"hir" means "her."

The terms sie/hir originated (I believe, I don't know for sure) on
IRC -- on-line internet chats.  They originated for on-line use where
the genders of the correspondents cannot be known.  I think, sie is used to
mean "he" or "she" and hir is used to me "him" or "her":
example:
"Of all the IRC channels on the net, why did sie have to walk into mine?"

They were not created for technical documentation.
Does anyone have more information on these terms?  I just picked up
this knowledge reading Usenet.  I have not used IRC extensively.   I
am not convinced of the accuracy of my feeble memory.

Rosie
rwilc -at- fast -dot- dot -dot- state -dot- az -dot- us
ncrowe -at- primenet -dot- com

"Life without hope is an empty, boring, and useless life.
 I cannot imagine that I could strive for something
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It is as big a gift as life itself."
Vaclav Havel