Hu, Me?
News: A brief his/herstory of gender-neutral pronouns
DeAnn DeLuna, a writing instructor at Johns Hopkins University, is the latest in a long line of grammatical idealists trying to eradicate English's gender-specific pronouns. Her alternative is hu (pronounced "huh"). "I think hu is superior to yo," she says, referring to the gender-neutral pronoun born on the nearby mean streets of Baltimore. "It's easier on the tongue." Maybe, but if his/herstory's any guide, hu has hu work cut out for hu.
pronoun(s) |
first use |
sample usage |
|
hyser |
Charles P. Sherman in The Literary World, 1884 |
Pointing with hyser finger westward... |
|
hse |
Buwei Yang Chao's How to Cook and Eat Chinese, 1945 |
Hse cooked some delicious General Tso's chicken. |
|
co |
Twin Oaks, an intentional community in Virginia, 1970 |
I saw co down at the co-op. |
|
ve/vis |
The "Manglish" column of the feminist newspaper Everywoman, 1970 |
Ve needs vis man like a fish needs a bicycle. |
|
na/nan |
June Arnold's novel The Cook and the Carpenter, 1973 |
Na once liked experimental fiction, but by the late '70s, nan patience wore thin. |
|
e/eir/em |
Michael Spivak's software guide The Joy of Tex, 1990 |
E says eir programming skills are no match for em. |
|
yo |
Baltimore slang documented in the journal American Speech and heard on The Wire, current |
Check it out—yo looks just like John Waters. |
|
hu |
DeAnn DeLuna, current |
Hu's on first. |
