The Dictionary Just Clapped Back at James Woods’ Transphobia

Yes I love Disney's Hercules. Yes I hate James Woods, who voiced Hades. We exist.

In recent years, Woods -- whose head, like Hades, may actually be on fire considering his melted visage -- has pivoted from celebrated actor to reviled Republican whose agency allegedly dropped him for his outrageous politics. Woods has also been accused of sexual misconduct by actresses Elizabeth Perkins, Katie Aselton, and Amber Tamblyn, the latter of whom claims he preyed on her when she was 16.

On Monday, Woods made an unprompted assault on trans identities, asking his Twitter followers to use "proper grammar, syntax, and spelling" in relation to pronouns.

"The correct pronoun usage in the English language is "he" for a singular male and "she" for a singular female," he wrote. "'They' is used for the plural of either males, females, or both. Don't be bullied by hare-brained liberals." Please leave my hair out of your cis nonsense, James Woods!

What no one was expecting was a clap back from the Dictionary themself (containing multitudes, the Dictionary is obviously nonbinary). "They has been in use as a singular pronoun since the 1300s," tweeted Dictionary.com, quoting Woods' tweet. "Among its best known users in history: Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen." Dictionary.com linked back to their article explaining the etymology of they as a singular pronoun, which explains that "sharing our pronouns is a way of sharing our gender identity with the world. You might identify as female and ask that people refer to you as she/her. Or, maybe you identify as male and your friends use he/him when they talk about you. For other folks, they/them are the appropriate pronouns to use.

"So, next time someone asks you to use they in the singular, tell them you're on board. The dictionary approves!" Period.

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