http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...
Confirmed by U-Tenn: (Thank you to wesmorgan1)
http://diversity.utk.edu/...
The University of Tennessee has told its staff and students to stop calling each other 'he', 'she', 'him' and 'her' - and to start referring to one another with terms like 'xe', 'zir' and 'xyr' instead.
The Knoxville branch of the public university sent a memo round to its members filled with unusual new parts of speech to avoid referring to anybody's gender.
According to a gay rights official at the university, the new language regime will make the university 'welcoming and inclusive' and stop people feeling 'marginalized'.
As we roll merrily along into the future...
I must note that UT has amended the rule - after objections from staff, they say these are now recommendations which are voluntary, not mandatory rules. Thank you to commenter Witgren for pointing this out.
1:55 PM PT: I have to take off for a while soon. Thank you for the fascinating and hilarious comments! You guys already made this thread a thousand times better than I could ever dream of doing.