Books

I have seen so many English linguistic trends and fads come and go I just don't take them seriously any longer. If someone wants to be called any number of hundreds of special pronouns just for themself, fine. No skin off my nose. If it's a stupid one (e.g. poppy/seed) or one that I'm just not going to waste my time bothering to clutter my brain with (e.g. xae/xaem), I'll just refer to said person by name (if at all). Otherwise I'll use the one they want me to use, knowing that within five years the fad will be behind us and a new fad will be plaguing users of English

^

Didn't read the book

do you think Newton was an idiot because he didn't know about relativity?

you do know, that the majority of modern gender discourse... originated in the 1970s, and only became popular with non-academics in the in the 2010s, mostly thanks to it's use on social media?

but don't let these facts get in the way of how much a book written before most of any of what you are talking about, existed, let alone outside of a tiny tiny subset of academics who were originating most of what you take for granted as having always have existed?

perhaps you could, I dunno, give Le guin credit for what a trailblazer she was in her time?

there are many possible reasons for that:

• she might have thought that the general critic on gender roles is allready enough for the reader
• she saw singular "they" as something for written or formal language and not everyday talk, which is what most of the dialogue in the book is.
• she was not happy with "they" since it can lead to confusion around singular and plural or did not see it as better alternative than a generic masculin pronoun for someother reason
• she simply did not use "they" that way when she wrote the book.

I sadly don't own the anniversary edition, so i don't know if le guin elaborates further on that. It's definitely valid criticism however.

e: english grammar hard.

It just sounds unfamiliar. It's perfectly grammatical, comprehensible, and avoids the ambiguities I deal with speaking with and about singular "theys" ten times every fucking day. In the realm of neopronouns, you're not going to find one better.

But wasn't it generally for an unknown person, like "I heard someone but I'm not seeing them"? Not to make a non-gendered pronoun for a particular person?

Hmm, true but it was used in the case where the specific person being referred to was unknown. "Somebody left their umbrella." It was not used the way OP is talking about, for a gender neutral individual.

(non English speaking, here)

• I doubt many English speaking people had any idea back then that 'they' could be singular. Had they, I doubt that many 'singular' they proponents would have needed to fight so hard to make it accepted, you know.
• Maybe She she just decided they was not right for the way she wanted to write.

The references accompanying the quote from Wikipedia, at last the Oxford dictionary one make it rather clear it's a much more recent acceptation to use it as a 'personal singular':

2009–
Used with reference to a person whose sense of personal identity does not correspond to conventional sex and gender distinctions, and who has typically asked to be referred to as they (rather than as he or she). (...)
In the 21st century, other th– pronouns (and the possessive adjective their) are sometimes used to refer to a named individual, so as to avoid revealing or making an assumption about that person's gender;

Only mentioning a 'generic reference', aka mentioning an individual as a generic representative of some larger group (ie, a student) dating back from 1450...

Hmmm, I've never read that one, but I read an awful lot of SF and fantasy, and I'm fairly positive I've seen ze and hir used that way in another work. I don't remember what though.

The way I put it to people who struggle with it is imagine you’ve invited a friend to dinner, and they ask “Do you mind if I bring a friend?” If you want to know what to cook, and you ask your friend, “Sure, but are they allergic to anything?” your friend will understand what you mean. Because you didn’t know the gender of your friend’s friend, you used “they” as a singular pronoun. Now just imagine you don’t know the biological sex of your daughter’s non-binary friends. It might help. :)

My son is trans and, prior to transitioning, when through a phase where he just felt non-binary. So e went from "she" to "they" to "he." I agree with you; though I felt it was important to refer to him in whatever was he felt appropriate, "they" always seemed awkward.