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jaibot comments on Open thread, September 8-14, 2014 - Less Wrong
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"They" can be singular or plural.
It is correct in the latter case, incorrect in the former. It largely doesn't matter, but recruiters I know, for example, throw out resumes for this particular error (though one had heard some schools actually encourage the practice, to the student's disservice) and some people (myself included until I thought better of it) think less of authors who make it. Linguistics as a discipline is descriptive, but people who are not linguists treat people differently for making errors.
It's a bit more complicated than correct or incorrect:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
I agree with you as literally started, and am not a Wikipedia naysayer, but that again is descriptive linguistics. People do say that. People also do say "y'all aints gots no Beefaronis?" (One of my favorite examples heard by my own ears in a c store), and people do think differently of either than they do as what is sometimes called "blackboard grammar." I would recommend John McWhorter as a linguist who describes this better than I can. Or just say to yourself "huh, interesting opinion" and walk away; I swear I won't be offended :-)
That's nuts.
I don't think so, but either way, if one wants a job at GE, to use a recognizable example, one might want to know.
Why? It strikes me as a good way to sort out people who have bad attention to detail, as well as avoiding the SJW-types more interested in accusing everyone in the company of sexism than doing any actual work.