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derimagia

I just recently saw this on this as an example as a Recency illusion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recency_illusion

It has a few references there that I have not confirmed myself but it does list a reference to Shakespeare.

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Thanks for linking to a quote. Here's what that article shows as using singular they:

    "There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend"

That's still not referring to a single, known person. The gender is known in this case due to "man", but it's still an unknown/unspecified man or men. I don't have a strong opinion about the recent push towards using singular they in this way, but I do really dislike the arguments for it that falsely try to add historical significance to their claims by invoking Chaucer or Shakespeare.

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