H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.
Page 304
and “she was one of these kind89 of people” in Charters, and “I am not the kind of man that is always thinking about their record,” “if he was to hit a man in the head… they would think their nose tickled” in Lardner. At the bottom of this error there is a real difficulty: the lack of a pronoun of the true common gender in English, corresponding to the French soi and son.90His, after a noun or pronoun connoting both sexes, often sounds inept, and his-or-her is intolerably clumsy. Thus the inaccurate plural is often substituted. The brothers Fowler have discovered “anybody else who have only themselves in view” in Richardson and “everybody is discontented with their lot” in Disraeli, and Ruskin once wrote “if a customer wishes you to injure their foot.” In spoken American, even the most careful, they and their often appear; I turn to the Congressional Record at random and in two minutes find “if anyone will look at the bank statements they will see.”91 In the lower reaches of the language the plural seems to get into every sentence of any complexity, even when the preceding noun or pronoun is plainly singular. Such forms as “every man knows their way,” and “nobody oughter never take what ain’t theirn” are quite common.
In demotic American the pedantry which preserves such forms as someone’s else is always disregarded; someone else’s is invariably used. I have heard “who else’s wife was there?” and “if it ain’t his’n, it ain’t nobody here else’s.” Finally, I note that he’s seems to be assimilating with his. In such sentences as “I hear he’s coming here to work,” the sound of he’s is precisely that of his.
5. The Adverb
All the adverbial endings in English, save -ly, have gradually fallen into decay; it is the only one that is ever used to form new adverbs. At earlier stages of the language various other endings
Note 89. Here, of course, kind is probably felt to be plural. Those is used in the same way, as in “those are the kind.” [back]
Note 90.Thon, as we have seen, was proposed so long ago as 1858, but it has never established itself. [back]
Note 91. “Hon.” Edward E. Browne, of Wisconsin, in the House of Representatives, July 18, 1918, p. 9965. [back]
