I`m sure these have been mentioned before ...

I’m gradually, and reluctantly, becoming used to ‘train station’ but balk at bus seats being referred to as ‘chairs’ which is gradually creeping into use. Wherever did that come from?

Glad to see people accepting ‘they’ for non-binary people. Someone has made a difficult decision and bravely declared that they prefer the pronoun ‘they’.

I was listening to old voices on the BBC history channel . My 22yr old companion asked me when people stopped speaking like that.
"When they died" was my answer.
One day his speech will sound old fashioned.
I never say train station btw. It grates on my ears. My DM said ears as if they were spelled years.

their our

We would not understand someone from say the seventieth century nor they us.

The way planet Earth is going, I'm not convinced Homo Sapiens will survive another 5000 years here, let alone their spoken language

"eye of the storm" - is not a chaotic area, as some journalists and authors seem to believe - but the peaceful centre before plough back into the hurricane.

wow ! bookmakers' slang.
can you do tick-tack?

Thee / you is a very good example of changing language.
Have also just realised that I made a grammatical mistake in my post! Fat finger / autocorrect rather than ignorance!

I like these debates as long as they are respectful as they remind us of changing language.
DH has occasionally wondered whether some of my expressions were influenced by growing up near an American air base - he sometimes tries to guess which are 'Americanisms' and which are my native way of speaking! I tell him that some of them are bookmakers' slang (the family business) just to confuse!

agree with nannaroae, mamaca, and doodledog.
and remember, to those who object, you is actually a plural form, yet I bet you !!! are happy to address one individual as you.
cannot see the problem if someone wants to be referred to as they, so what, it's up to them. it's not indecent, or insulting, which it might be, for obvious reasons.
anyone remember how people used to refer to babies as it.

I know what you mean, Chestnut; but really, why does it matter if we can't assign a binary gender to someone who has chosen not to define themselves in that way?

If someone wants to be called 'they', or whatever they prefer, it is easy enough to do that for them, surely?

I know that it sounds ungrammatical; but in this context it isn't - the person is asking for the word to be used to describe them and used as a singular pronoun. That sentence was tricky to write so that it made sense , so I hope you know what I mean.

My point is that it doesn't take much effort to use a different pronoun (whatever our age), and it might make a huge difference to a non-binary person.

I don't think that it is necessary to fully understand the reason why it matters - just to accept that it does to some people, and afford them the courtesy of being addressed as they prefer.

Nannarose - you are correct, we do use those expressions, but they are always used where the person is unknown and I suppose that's what makes the difference. When you know who the person is you naturally assign a gender to them. We have all been saying he or she for 60 plus years and that's why 'they' sounds wrong in that context, when assigned to a single person of (apparently) known gender. Now we find we don't know the gender even when we know who the person is! It's just too confusing for me. Hopefully younger folk can absorb it.

My father, 1940s grammar school, was also taught to use 'they' in that way, Nannarose.

Adding to the debate: I was taught (60s, grammar school) to use 'they' for a single person of uncertain gender, and have done so ever since, finding it easier than he/she. Examples:
The speaker will arrive by the 9.00 train, but I don't know what they look like.
I can't see that person clearly, but they are behaving suspiciously.
My sister is bringing along a new friend, but I've never met them.

I have no problem with people who don't want to use it, but it suits me and have a respectable pedigree (Miss Brown, 4th year English!)

Do you mean ‘it’? If so, I think it’s blindingly obvious why people don’t use it to describe other people.

On a similar note, I don’t like hearing women described as girls, and the use of ‘female’ as a noun is indicative of ingrained sexism.

Oh, I love the way there are so many of you confirming that my niggles are not just mine! "Meeting with" is one of my pet hates too, lovebeigecardigans1955, as well as "park up". So is the use of "grandmother", Bathsheba instead of "woman" where the fact that she may be a grandmother is irrelevant. They do it to men too, although not so often, perhaps. That goes along with the use of "pensioner" for anyone over that age of 60 - particularly annoying now that people are well over 60 before they get their pensions!

Chestnut, I too find the use of a plural pronoun for a singular person grates. We do have a singular neuter pronoun in English - it. Wonder why nobody seems to want to use that? It would be grammatically correct.

Go pedants!! (Or should that be Go, pedants!!?)

I first heard train station when I moved from London to East Anglia in the mid 80s. In London it was the railway station or underground/tube station. We didnt have bus stations just bus depots were usually based at the end of the bus route. Outside London towns tended to have both bus and railway stations so referred to them as train station and bus station. I found it very odd at first.

Fur babies.....grrrrr

I know what you mean, Chestnut; but it is very important to some people that they are addressed as gender-neutral, and, as yet, the alternatives to 'they', such as 'ze' or 'xe' are relatively unknown, so would involve an explanation every time they were used. It's not one that really bothers me, as I think it is just good manners to address people as they choose, and it requires zero effort, really. (does 'zero effort offend anyone?

I agree that 'meet with' is an atrocity, though. I have a friend who uses it all the time, and I have to try hard not to wince. It's interesting how little things like this can be so (mildly) irritating, isn't it?

Others that irritate are 'hysterical' for 'hilarious' - 'She found the joke hysterical', and 'Three items or less' at a supermarket. Countable nouns take 'fewer', not 'less'. Shame on you, Marks and Spencer

One word I cannot accept is the use of 'they' by Sam Smith to describe his gender neutral status instead of 'he' or 'she'. You cannot use a plural term for a single person! No no no. You cannot say 'They went for a walk' for one person. It is nonsense and is totally confusing.

GillT57 I find that irritating too, the irrelevant information in news reports, the 68 year old ‘grandmother’ rather than ‘woman’. And it’s not just the media who do it - I’ve just come across one of our own members on another thread referring to an ‘83 year old grandmother’, where the word ‘grandmother’ was entirely unnecessary; ‘woman’ would have been perfectly fine.

I think why I find it so annoying as well is because I seriously doubt the person’s status is always checked. It’s more than likely an assumption that if a woman is over a certain age she is bound to be a grandmother.

I hate 'he is meeting with Mr Bloggs' - it is either 'he is meeting Mr B' or 'he has a meeting with Mr B' - I even heard it on the news last night. It makes me cringe.

Also, 'I have a problem/issue around dentists or whatever' - it should be 'I have a problem with dentists' or the like. I think this is an import from Australia.

I've always said train station and I'm in my 60s. I just think language changes over time as long as people know what is meant I can't see the problem. But I have to admit I hate it when people say the movies and I refuse to say it! It's always a film to me.

has anyone around here seen the ground? when was the last time? where has the ground disappeared to?
now the floor extends out of buildings into the street, and beyond to cover the whole world.
can we oldies inform the youngers that the floor used to know its place, ie firmly and exclusively inside a building.
let's put it back where it belongs.

I hate it when people don't know the difference between a train and an engine. I see teachers pick up an engine and call it a train. I remark, ' Have you heard of the children's cartoon called Thomas the Tank train!'

4allweknow Lots of the village schools around here have the name of the village and Public School carved on the front door .My husbands best friend was interviewed for a high level job with a huge UK firm ,they were quite impressed by his school name and remarked on it being a Public School .Little did they know it was in a small village and had around 100 pupils .

Concur with pretty much all of the above. May I add a couple that are currently REALLY annoying me? (1) The use of 'small little' to describe something (2) friends who call themselves 'Glamma'. Rant over, feel much better now.