1. Author’s Note

From the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the world “he” may be used as a pronoun to mean, “the person or animal of unknown or unspecified sex, previously mentioned or implied or easily identified”. An example given using this definition is, “When someone ...wants to write the story ... he’ll find all the material ready.”

While the order of the day is to be politically correct, and some authors even go so far as to use the term “she” instead to mean the same thing, perhaps thinking that some females would feel disrespected by the term “he” used to mean “a person” when gender is irrelevant, it is noted that all the offended person needs to do is:

  1. understand that this meaning of the word has been in use in the English language since 1567 according to the Merriam-Webster word history;

  2. understand that it is used to mean either or both genders and is intended to equally respect both female and male halves of the species;

  3. understand the definition itself.

#3 can be done by

  • looking up the definition (it is sense 2 here);

  • making up example sentences using “he” with this meaning until

    • he or she fully understands its use and meaning,

    • he or she readily recognizes from the surrounding text when “he” is being used in this way, as opposed to being used to refer only to a male, and

    • he or she is comfortable both using it and hearing it and easily distinguishes which meaning is meant when hearing it or reading it.

Making up example sentences using it this way, if done long enough (it can take 20 or more sentences), will accomplish the above. You will know when you have made up enough sentences because a feeling of calm will become noticeable.

Because of the literary correctness, and because the use of “his or her” or “he/she” frequently in text not only makes it longer, but tends to make it more complicated and thus more difficult to understand, for sake of brevity and clarity, this author chooses to simply use the term “he” (and its various related pronouns) when referring to a person whose gender does not matter. It is expected that it will be clear by the surrounding words when the above meaning is intended.

This author has only the highest respect for the female half of the species.