Boss' gender?

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Tim Covil posed the problematic sentence <<I think you
 should go to the boss and see what they think>> as a
 hideous example of the singular "they". (By the way, "they"
 has a long tradition of being used as a singular, so it's
 not "wrong"; it _is_ sufficiently unfamiliar to modern
 readers that you're usually well advised to avoid using it;
 unfamiliar constructions look wrong and thereby distract
 readers.)

 The problem sentence is easy to reword in any of several
 ways, to whit:
 1. I think you should ask what the boss thinks.
 2. I think you should go to ask the boss's opinion
 3. I think you should go ask the boss about this.
 There are more, but you get the point. And I haven't even
 tried to reword this in the imperative or use the specific
 sex of a known boss. (Terminology alert: "People have sex,
 words have gender."--Miriam Bloom)

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html