GEICO, the second-largest vehicle insurance underwriter in the US, has decided it will no longer cover Tesla Cybertrucks. The company is terminating current Cybertruck policies and says the truck “doesn’t meet our underwriting guidelines.”

  • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
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    7 hours ago

    “their” is shorter than “his or her”

    (Even if you don’t care about gender inclusiveness, they is just more convenient)

    • digdilem@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      The best English literature doesn’t follow the basis of most convenient or shortest. Sometimes there are other reasons to choose a word of phrase.

      The plot of Romeo and Juliet could be rewritten in a paragraph but probably wouldn’t have had the same impact.

      • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
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        5 hours ago

        True, but this isn’t prose or high literature. What reason do you suggest why “his or her” would be preferable to “their” in this context?

        The prescriptivist “It’s grammatically incorrect” argument doesn’t hold much water when it has been used since middle English.

        In a poem, I can see the thought:
        “I tried to fit the cadence of this clause
        Within the measure of this poem’s form
        Which has in past and present be the norm
        By which this poem, too, seeks to adhere.
        This is my authorial choice’s cause
        for my decision not to use a “their”.” But if to find an alternate way to word
        Your writing’s pronouns strikes you as absurd
        I nonetheless opine that you still ought
        To make the token effort to include
        With “their” all people by the same respect
        That you for yourself would from them expect.
        Refusing this, I feel, would be quite rude.

        • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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          2 hours ago

          Comments here are a short form of writing, therefore people are allowed to phrase things and say things however they would like to. You won’t know someone’s intent before reading, so the way they write makes a difference.

        • digdilem@lemmy.ml
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          1 hour ago

          Nice ditty.

          What reason do you suggest why “his or her” would be preferable to “their” in this context?

          Regional dialect, fluidity of language, variety - even habit.

          “It’s grammatically incorrect” argument doesn’t hold much water

          Oh, I do respectfully disagree with that, especially when you cite medieval English but reference an American language dictionary as your source.

          I could just as viably give “his or hers” as equally valid as “theirs”, because it is. We’re not newspaper headline writers, nobody penalises us if we use a few more characters for any reason. And you could switch back and forth between them both for variety.

          • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
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            4 hours ago

            Then the original comment would read

            hose hings are very poorly made and all he most imporan pars are made of cheap plasic ha an average person can lierally rip off wih his or her bare hands