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Pokémon being called it

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Or we could use it, since that's what Nintendo wants us to call Pokémon.
Since when? Also why?

If we make the singular they normal,

I repeat, singular they has been grammatically correct for half a millenium.

we'd might as well finish singularizing the plural pronouns by ourselves "we" when we're alone. If you is both singular and plural and they is both singular and plural, the only pronouns left in the English language that are exclusively singular and plural would be the first-person pronouns.

Thats called prescriptive grammar; I prefer to describe how languages actually are.
 
The singular they has mostly been used for people so ambiguous that you may as well be referring to more than one. You don't call Donald Trump they unless he's with someone and you're referring to his partner too. In fact, we've been using the phrase "he or she" when referring to someone who's gender we don't know for a while. And what about the phrase "Who is it?" That's probably the most polite way to call a human being an it. It is probably the perfect gender-neutral singular pronoun but no one would accept being called an it because the word has been associated with objects and monsters and people tend to put rude emphasis on "it" to insult people. And that makes calling Pokémon "it" feel really weird nowadays. Just about every Pokémon media call the characters "it." Super Smash Bros. Ultimate refer to the Pokémon characters "it." And people tried to invent new pronouns like xe, ze, hir, but they hardly catch on because they sound like pronouns from an alien language. I'm not sure if we can all agree on singular gender-neutral pronouns. He and she had worked for a long time. It's only become a problem now because of identity politics.
 
The singular they has mostly been used for people so ambiguous that you may as well be referring to more than one. You don't call Donald Trump they unless he's with someone and you're referring to his partner too.

Um, you don't know me like that. In fact, fyi, I regularly make use of they to refer to other people whether I know their gender or not, even close family members and friends, as part of a personal strive to use gender neutral language. No one has ever taken issue with it or, to my knowledge, even noticed.

I have, however, noticed multiple people in my own social circles using singular they too, and as I have noted twice before, singular they is just as linguistically correct as other constructions like "he or she", with the added advantage of being much less awkward (both in the unnecessary lengthening of of phrases and social issues of gendered language).

In fact I can't see any reason to use he and she over they, unless someone specifically asked you to refer to them in gendered terms of course.

He and she had worked for a long time.

If marginalising trans people and reinforcing patriarchy is the definition of "work", then yeah, I fully agree, he and she worked for a really long time.

It's only become a problem now because of identity politics.

You mean trans rights and feminism?
 
Nope, I don't think so. Will political correctness ever leave me alone? It's been bothering me all year.
 
This is the problem of English grammar and cultural issue of personal relationship with the addressed subject. This isn't the problem of Pokemon nor their sentience.

Pokemon or not, the answer to the question of is addressing any non-human creature as "it" insulting or not, is really just like one said, simply a matter of political correctness. And as far as the concern of political correctness, it means there is just no right or wrong answer. Depending on one's standpoint, it can go either way.

And just to add a little foreign standpoint from cultural perspective, Japan where Pokemon was originated, its native language Japanese doesn't even have the concept of "pronoun" in its grammar rules (It has something similar, but works completely different). So how one address oneself and/or the others? Well, whatever first/second/third person calling one find comfortable according to the situation.
 
Anyways, whether a Pokémon is called it or not, I guess that should be up to the trainer.
 
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In line with Crystal's last post, what you refer to Pokémon as is a preference with no proper answer. So that this discussion does not become any more heated, and because these forums should not be a platform for debating people's pronoun preferences, I will be closing this thread.

As a bit of a clarifying side note keep in mind that if you are aware of someone's preferred pronouns you must use them under our rules.
 
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