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Removed use of gendered pronoun
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@alex
alex committed Nov 29, 2013
1 parent 9342ef7 commit 1ff9d18
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion src/unix/fs.c
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Expand Up @@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ static ssize_t uv__fs_sendfile_emul(uv_fs_t* req) {
*
* 1. Read errors are reported only if nsent==0, otherwise we return nsent.
* The user needs to know that some data has already been sent, to stop
* him from sending it twice.
* them from sending it twice.
*
* 2. Write errors are always reported. Write errors are bad because they
* mean data loss: we've read data but now we can't write it out.
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12 comments on commit 1ff9d18

@sam-github
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A single "user" isn't a plural "them". This seems not so important, but would be better "to top sending it twice"

@postmodern
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@sam-github "one" is the singular pronoun you are looking for.

@dbb
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@dbb dbb commented on 1ff9d18 Nov 30, 2013

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"They" has been used in singular form for centuries, and it is still in widespread use today-- probably much more common than "one" except in formal contexts. I think prescription against it in program documentation is unwarranted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

@zedshaw
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Why not:

The nsent value is returned so the caller can avoid sending it twice.
If you get nsent, then you know data was sent and you can avoid sending it twice.
This tells the caller that the data was sent to avoid double sends.

This is assuming I'm understanding what this thing does at all, either way I think it can be rewritten clearer to just avoid the whole sentence structure at all by changing the writing style to be instructional ("You get blah blah if you see blah blah.") rather than formal ("One gets blah blah if one sees blah blah").

@IreneKnapp
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Hi, I'm kibitzing. I have nothing to do with this project and really have no business commenting on it.

With that out of the way...

There are strong reasons to avoid gendered pronouns. It seems as though that point has been made already here. I am personally an advocate of singular-they, because language usage is a moving target, and we have to skate to where the puck will be, not where it is now. To many speakers who were educated by the "English is just a different vocabulary for Latin" theory, it sounds wrong. But all the elegant solutions to the grammatical problem (Spivak pronouns are a runner-up) run afoul of that, and this one is simply reverting to an earlier version which has already been shown not to cause significant linguistic friction elsewhere.

To use "one" does really sound very formal and off-putting, and many readers have difficulty making sense of it.

"You" is an option as well, but in this example there are multiple people in context - the ideal user; the reader of the comment; the implementor who wrote it. "You" would probably mean the reader, who is likely a programmer as well, not really a typical end-user.

Rewording without a pronoun at all is an option, but kind of awkward here. It's probably my second choice for this situation after singular-they.

I leave you with a Douglas Hofstadter satire essay... http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html

@JimPanic
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Thanks to Twitter, I was made aware of this. I see two solutions to this:

  • The users need to know that some data has already been sent, to stop them from sending it twice.
  • Read errors are reported only if nsent == 0, otherwise nsent is being returned to help avoid sending data twice.

The second one reflects my personal style choice of writing documentation: keep it passive and avoid pronouns.

@IreneKnapp
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While I am always happy to promote singular-plurals, since they are the one true solution etc etc etc, I like JimPanic's second suggestion better in this specific instance. Mentioning users at all is tangential to what's being said here.

@fgc
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@fgc fgc commented on 1ff9d18 Nov 30, 2013

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In fact a more impersonal comment style might promote better thinking. After all, by the time all this matters, no humans are involved: the runtime won't return nsent to you, me, him, her or they. "It" is up for debate. Read your Dijkstra, think clearer and avoid controversy:

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD936.html
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd08xx/EWD854.PDF

@dogweather
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The original docs aren't idiomatic English; this sentence reads oddly and the "him" is out of place. It gives the impression that it wasn't written by someone with English as their first language.

"The user needs to know that some data has already been sent, to stop him from sending it twice."

@anklos
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@anklos anklos commented on 1ff9d18 Dec 5, 2013

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Could you please also submit a pull request to Oxford dictionary for changing the word "history" to "theirstory"?

@anklos
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@anklos anklos commented on 1ff9d18 Dec 5, 2013

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Plus please suggest the dictionary editors to change all the 'he/him' in the sample sentences to 'they'.

@mehabox
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Mangina attack!

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