When I set about revising Plain Words, the guide to English usage by my great-grandfather, Ernest Gowers, I soon realised that applying the book’s own principles to the job would require me to eliminate from its pages all uses of the indeterminate masculine pronoun. I was under orders to preserve the vintage charm of the original; but a writing guide must demonstrate what it is attempting to explain, and the most famous maxim in Plain Words is “be short, be simple, be human”. In the 21st century, “he” used to mean “he or she” is annoying to so many people that it no longer qualifies as “human”– or charming. Tennyson, for his own reasons, explained this pithily: “Friend, man-woman is not woman-man.”
Personally, I’d be inclined to leave it as an example of its time – any revision being minimal. And as someone in the comments mentions, things can get sticky when people aren’t happy about being referred to as either he or she, because neither applies…
Um, going down this road opens one great big can of wriggly things…
So, I leave the final (sensible) word to metalvendatta:
A short note at the beginning of the book: “In this book, ‘he’ is used as shorthand to refer to ‘he, she or they’, whatever the case may be.” Job done, no handwringing.
Indeed.
Or maybe OttoMaddox:
Whenever I see an article with a title or first line that begins: ‘We need to talk about‘, I know it’s something 99% of people won’t need to talk about.
Heh!
What annoys me is the author who thinks she (sic) will put centuries of injustice right by using the female pronoun. But what annoys me more than that is the author who thinks he should use “he” and “she” alternately. She probably thinks he is being even handed but ends up being confusing.
Writing is a means of communication, anything that comes between the author and his reader should be avoided. Using inappropriate pronouns that make the reader transfer his attention from the subject of the article to the mechanics of article is bad writing.
I still have the second edition with revisions by Sir Bruce Fraser which I bought as a student. Though looking a little tatty I don’t feel the need to replace it.