I thought this usage had been established for more than 400 years. But, since many people see it as an error, this could still represent a reckless disregard for the "rules" on the part of grammatically shell-shocked English speakers.

Then there is always "it" as an alternative:

To see now how a jest shall come about!
I warrant, an I should live a thousand years,
I never should forget it. ‘Wilt thou not, Jule?’ quoth he,
And, pretty fool, it stinted, and said ‘Ay.’

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3

Here, 'it' refers to a child of two, a little old for 'it' by modern standards.

Mark

On Sun, Dec 25, 2011, at 12:45 PM, Geoffrey Layton wrote:

Just in case anyone doubts that "they" is fast becoming the new default for the genderless third person singular pronoun, here's an example from an email I just received from something called "Spam Arrest":

Thank you for verifying your email address with Spam Arrest!

Your email has been forwarded to brian koepf's inbox. All of your
future emails to brian koepf will also be delivered directly into
their inbox.

Far better, I think, than the awkward "him/her, his/hers, he/she" (which is also sexist - why should the masculine precede the feminine?).

Geoff Layton

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