Their, their, it's (not) OK

The English language has been missing a gender-non-specific third person singular pronoun for a long time. That is, "A toilet user must sink his/her own submarines". Various attempts have been made - his/her is probably the most correct but also the most clumsy. I've been a fan of their for a while, and while it's not technically correct (it's plural) there are certain usages that sound a lot better than others.

Facebook doesn't seem to realise this. Never a great one for impressive displays of grammar, one of their ugliest uses in this:

"Joe Bloggs updated their profile"

I think "their" only really works in the singular if the identity is unknown. For instance:

"A user has updated their profile"

sounds OK to me. Because the user could be anyone, we then have a vague sense of plurality. But the original just sounds hideous.

Spelling, Grammar and Meaning

The prescriptivist vs. descriptivist war on spelling and grammar will go on forever, and both are important, but one principle reigns supreme: meaning.

What are you trying to say? Is your meaning comprised by your improper use of spelling or grammar? Or is it perhaps enhanced? Pull out your artistic licence if you must. But always ask yourself - how will what I am saying affect the meaning?

This is really just a roundabout way of trying to get across that:

Don't say you want to be apart of something when you really want to be a part of something!

They pretty much mean the opposite of each other.