When I first drafted this section, I relegated the discussion of the use of pronouns for nonbinary people—people who do not identify as male or female—to a terse footnote acknowledging the relatively recent invention of alternate pronouns (I guess I’ve encountered the “ze”/“zir” system most frequently, but there are a number of others, which certainly impedes universal adoption) and the increasing use of what one might call a particularly singular “they,” blithely declared the matter cultural rather than copyeditorial, and excused myself from discussing it further. In other words, I cut and
...more
