my latest windmill to tilt at

[rone]

English already has perfectly useful gender-neutral pronouns: it, its. Use them. Do not use they, them for singular objects. Do not use the abhorrent, artificial 'hir', 'zie', 'blim', 'gur', or whatever. Yes, people can be called 'it'. Deal with it.

Comments

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

I've heard "it" more often used to de-personify robots and talking dolphins.

Of course, we personify other tools that seem to behave with a mind of their own, and don't "they" them. "It never does quite what I want, but only what I tell it."

On the other hand, you can still "It's" people. "It's the President." "It's the pizza guy."