Featured Exercise Common Sense

Just the sheer number? Do believe there were more or less than people think?

Are you now becoming a KJVO?

 

You do posit some wacky ideas.

The word their is often used to refer to an individual.

Geoff Pullum submits the following as an example of the nonsense of using his, which is related to your old-school grammar approach.
"Is it your brother or sister who can hold his breath for four minutes?

Do you honestly think that his is acceptable in that sentence?

Of course not --their is much more natural.

No, not at all. You are being puerile.

 

"If a person is born of a gloomy temper...they cannot help it." Chesterfield (1694-1773)

"A person can't help their birth." Thackery, 1848 in Vanity Fair.

"There's not a man I meet but doth salute me, as if I were their well-acquainted friend." Shakespeare

"And ever one to rest themselves betake." Shakespeare

"The OED and Jespersen (1914) reveal, for example, that right from the time of the introduction of the indefinite pronouns into the language in their present form in the Late Middle English period, the option involving they has been in common use." (Katie Wales,1996)

 

"...the claim that it is ungrammatical begins to look utterly unsustainable to us here at Language Log Plaza. The use of they isn't ungrammatical, it isn't a mistake, it's a feature of ordinary English syntax that for some reason attracts the ire of particularly puristic pussillanimous pontificators, and we don't buy what they're selling." Geoffry K. Pullum, Jan. 5,2006

 

You are confused. No translation translates every single word.

Many times there are no direct equivalents between the original language and English. You don't know that by now?
That applies to thousands of other languages too.

 

I would be surprised that many would be surprised. It's common knowledge.

 

I do enjoy the above!

 

The following was submitted to the N.Y.T. by C. Badendck in 1985 to illustrate the futility of the position that folks like M.M. hold.

"The average American needs the small routines of getting ready for work. As he shaves or blow-dries his hair or pulls on his panty-hose, he is easing himself by small stages into the demands of the day."