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Old 02-20-2011, 06:15 AM
Deckard
issue 37
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: South Wales
Posts: 1,244
Re: what do y'all think?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrea View Post
oh, even the Swedish language is missing a world for a third person with unknown sex so they have to say "she or he"
my question was if "X" means an unknown person/individual solely
No, it can mean anything, not just a person. And when it's used for an unknown person, it's usually as part of an impersonal discussion such as when making a statement of logic. For instance, you would be very unlikely to hear a statement such as: "When X comes in, we will introduce them and then seat them at this table." We would just use 'the person' or 'the people' or be more specific - e.g. 'the guest'.