Merriam-Webster Reminds Us About Old-Timey Gender-Neutral Pronoun ‘Thon’

Written by R. S. Benedict on March 3, 2017

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Merriam-Webster’s Twitter account made a post yesterday remembering the loss of “thon,” a proposed gender-neutral pronoun used in the 1930s.

'Thon' (short for "that one") was a genderless pronoun in Webster's Second (1934). It was dropped from the third edition. pic.twitter.com/sEDj1smbsy

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 2, 2017

The dictionary publisher has been tweaking the noses of right-wingers for some time now. They’ve been making digs at the Trump administration’s fondness for using “alternative facts” and words like “bigly.”

And now, when the nation is debating a shift in the concept of gender, Merriam-Webster reminds us that all this is nothing new.

gender language Merriam-Webster Twitter