Ashley Campbell's Writer's Log
I am not a number — or a thing
(on using who and that)
Some of the great works of 20th Century literature and television involve heroes fighting systems in which all-powerful political parties or corporations dominate individuals.
Sometimes I’m tempted to believe New Zealand English is moving us towards such distorted priorities.
I’m talking about the all-too-common practice of referring to people as “that” and companies, government departments, organisations — anything, really, as long as it’s not human — as “who”.
It’s everywhere — and it’s easy to find. A quick search on the New Zealand Herald reveals Ray Smith, deputy chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development, writing: “When my social workers sit down and speak with these families they often find people that are struggling …”
The impersonality of that reference, when writing about such a sensitive subject, is remarkable. Change it to “people who are struggling” and suddenly the writer appears more sympathetic.
An equally quick search reveals that just a few days earlier marketing strategist Chris Bray wrote: “… imagine the kinds of companies who would be interested in this opportunity”.
“Who” is a personal pronoun — it can refer only to people. Last time I looked, companies were not people. Neither were governments, nor political parties. So why do people give them a personal pronoun? What does this say about their thought processes? If language helps to define reality, what reality are these people creating?
“That” is a fuzzier word — it’s an all-purpose pronoun that can be used for a thing, person or idea. Because it’s all-encompassing it gives no special status to human beings — who some of us think should, probably, be treated a little differently from things and ideas. Especially as they have their own word that does set them apart.
One of the tricks of communicating well is to make the readers or listeners believe you are talking directly to them, that this is a personal interaction. You don’t achieve that by depersonalising people.
To paraphrase Patrick McGoohan’s character in the late 1960s television series The Prisoner, we are not numbers, or things, we’re people. And companies and governments are not people. Not yet — anyway.
©Ashley Campbell, 2009 |
