Merriam-Webster announced its Word of the Year for 2019 and the simple, familiar word packs a whole lot of important meaning in progressive, LGBTQ-affirming spaces. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year is “they.” The singular pronoun was looked up 313% more this year than in 2018, Merriam-Webster says.
“In 2019 the increase in lookups for ‘they’ was so significant and sustained that it stood out from all the other top lookups when we went to analyze the data,” Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, said in a statement as reported by NBC News. Other top-searched words included “camp,” ‘quid pro quo,” and “impeach.”
What does “they” mean? As a singular pronoun, “they” is used in place of gendered pronouns like “he” or “she.” Some people also use “they” as an umbrella term when they don’t know a person’s pronoun. In this scenario, using “they” to refer to someone allows you to avoid misgendering them, a mistake that can be awkward at best and harmful at worst. Want to avoid these potentially hurtful situations? Encourage people to share their pronouns early on, and model the same behavior (if you are comfortable) by signaling yours. This can include putting your pronouns in the signature of your email or on your office door, for example.
As Merriam-Webster points out, neither ‘they’ nor ‘nonbinary’ identities are new. What’s new, arguably, is a more inclusive space where people are able to advocate for language that appropriately reflects their identities.
"English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years," Merriam-Webster's website says. "More recently, though, they has also been used to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary, a sense that is increasingly common in published, edited text, as well as social media and in daily personal interactions between English speakers. There's no doubt that its use is established in the English language, which is why it was added to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary this past September."
In addition to celebrities and musicians coming out as nonbinary or specifying that they use ‘they/them’ pronouns, Democrats have been talking about nonbinary and transgender identities much more. For example, Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s viral “fear versus love speech” mentions her nonbinary child. Sen. Cory Booker has referenced his nonbinary ‘niephew’ as a resource for helping him learn about LGBTQ issues in schools. On the debate stage, many progressives running for the Democratic nomination have spoken about transgender issues, ranging from reproductive health to the number of black transgender women who have been murdered this year alone.
You can check out the following videos where people talk about their gender pronouns and what they mean to them.
And here.
And here.