Pronoun questions

[megwrites]

I've been researching gender-neutral pronouns in the English language this weekend.

I'm wondering what pronouns are most commonly used and in what contexts. I've come into contact with a/ou, though I'm still not sure if I'm using them correctly in a grammatical sense. I did not know that a/ou originated in Old and Middle English.

I'm more familiar with zie/zir and sie/hir, but I'm wondering if they have different connotations or can indicate different things? I haven't found a lot of links about that yet. Most of what I found just seems to explain that they exist and where they fit grammatically.

So if anyone has links, info, opinions, I'd love it if you shared.

Comments

[owlectomy]

My preferred pronouns in the case of uncertain gender are
1) singular 'they'
2) no pronoun, but using a mix of the person's name with indefinite and definite articles, e.g., "I found that post problematic because username fails to engage with X and Y," rather than, "I found his post problematic because he fails to engage with X and Y." I learned this from a theology student who had a theologian professor who didn't refer to God as He or She, but just God all the time.

Both are relatively graceful, transparent, and unlikely to offend. I don't mind the various neologisms but I'm not likely to use them myself unless referring to a specific person who's indicated that that's their preference.