Art by A

“they” is more inclusive than “he/she”

“themself” flows more naturally than “him or herself”

“they” is less clunky than “(s)he”

“I shouldn’t like to punish anyone, even if they’d done me wrong.” —George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)

“A person can’t help their birth.” —William Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1848)

“But to expose the former faults of any person, without knowing what their present feelings were, seemed unjustifiable.” —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

“Every Fool can do as they’re bid.” —Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation (1738)

“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” —King James Bible, Matthew 18:35 (transl. 1611)

“God send every one their heart’s desire!” —William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (~1600)

“Now this king did keepe a great house, that euerie body might come and take their meat freely.” —Sir Philip Sidney, the Arcadia (1580)

“If … a psalme scape any person, or a lesson, or els yt they omyt one verse or twayne…” —William Bonde, The Pylgrimage of Perfection (1526)

“And whoso fyndeth hym out of swich blame, / They wol come up and offre a Goddés name” —Geoffrey Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Tale (~1380)

“þan hastely hiȝed eche wiȝt on hors & on fote, / huntyng wiȝt houndes alle heie wodes, / til þei neyȝþed so neiȝh to nymphe þe soþe [Then hastily hied each person on horse and on foot / hunting with hounds all the high woods / ‘til they came so near, to tell the truth]” —William and the Werwolf (transl. ~1350-1375)

Violets are blue

Singular “they” predates

s9 as a whole broke records. the previous reigning champion season was s8 with a combined total of 52. s9 has a total of 90, which is a 73.1% increase from last season. even if we took out the nsv crossover, s9 would still come out on top with a total of 61.

not only did s9 as a whole break records, but it also had singular episodes where both buck and eddie beat their personal episodic records. in the nsv crossover, buck beat his previous high of 15 in 811 with 18, and eddie hit 11, beating his previous four way tie of 5 in 303, 610, 808, and 907. then, the very next week in 913, eddie surpassed his new record again with 17—only 1 behind buck's all time high.

s9's combined buck and eddie totals are higher than s7 and s8 combined. separately, it is also higher than s4, s6, and s7 combined.

eddie was in the lead for the majority of s9, but it ultimately ended in a tie between buck and eddie. eddie has only ever finished ahead once before, in s4, with a score of 14 beating buck's 13. the last time they had an even split was in s6. this also happens to be the only other time they have tied. their counts were only 9 each (the s6 drought was real), for a combined total of 18. s9 ending with 45 each, or 90 combined, marks a 400% increase from the last tie.