TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
The solution I've always liked (outside of simply re-writing to avoid
pronouns altogether) is to mix-and-match pronouns within the text, trying
to keep a decent balance. For example, in one "hypothetical user"
example, refer to the user as feminine throughout, and in another example
switch to masculine.
The advantage there is that you can't possibly offend anybody, you don't
have to re-write into awkward constructions simply to avoid a pronoun,
and you don't have to make up any words (which seems to be an issue in
this forum).
The only complaint I've ever gotten from clients is that it was that a
sentence using the feminine pronouns interrupted the reading flow because
it was such a surprise, but I'm certain that would wear off with
additional reading, to everyone's benefit.
>This *really* bothers the linguistic purist in me, but
>my real problem is that when I complained about it, I
>could not come up with an acceptable counteroffer.
>Does anyone have any suggestions for a
>non-gender-specific pronoun set that *also* delineates
>between plural and singular?
