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Sat Mar 5 02:27:51 CET 2011 · https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2011-March/108710.html

On 3/4/2011 7:40 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Westley Martínez<anikom15 at gmail.com>
>> All right I have to reply to all these "singular they" remarks. Just
>> because the singular they has been used for a long time doesn't make it
>> right. It sounds unnatural, at least to me, and I've always been taught
>> to use "he or she" which I despise. So all my life I've used the generic
>> "he". Anyways, I remember reading somewhere that for Python Strunk and
>> White apply, and neither Strunk nor White like singular theys.
>
> That's how I felt 20 years ago.

I still feel that way ...

> But since then I've come to appreciate
> they as a much better alternative to either "he or she" or "he". Just
> get used to it.

But I discovered long ago that abstract singulars can nearly always be 
pluralized, as the statement is nearly always about people rather than 
any particular person.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy

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