Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> + When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when
>> + addressing the the hypothetical user, and possibly "we" when
>> + discussing how the program might react to the user.
>
> Because I still get a funny feeling whenever I see a singular they,
> which I was taught to be ungrammatical in my foreign language
> classes long time ago, I kind of like this approach better, if we
> can pull it off.
>
> I wonder if we can avoid third-person entirely, though.
Git is primarily a communication medium used among developers, and
when one side is referred to as "you", the other side needs some
pronoun to explain inter-developer interactions. We could say "you
as the integrator would have to ask my sign-off from me as a
contributor" to avoid third-person, but I suspect that this quickly
becomes just as awkward as using singular they.
I wonder if this makes it more workable:
When it becomes awkward to stick to this style prefer "you" when
addressing the the hypothetical user, and "they" in plural when
you need to talk about a third-party that interacts with "you",
and possibly "we" when discussing how the program might react to
the user.
That way, we'd say "You'd ask their sign-off from contributors".
I'd stop here and continue watching from sidelines.
I think the topic tries to solve an issue worth solving, but I
suspect that a solution that requires singular they would not work
as well as a solution that doesn't would, especially for non native
speakers like me.
