That’s What niH Said!

Introducing niH, the gender-free personal pronoun

It started out as a nice, quiet dinner with another couple at a local bistro. Somehow the conversation turned to the increasing difficulties of which personal pronoun is preferred by any random person. Zoom (and probably many others) have even added the option for you to state which pronoun you desire others to use when conversing with or about you. As we continue to experience increasing levels of genderless clothing and hairstyles and lifestyles, it rapidly becomes apparent that he/his, she/hers, etc, is an antiquated form of speech. 

During the dinner, I proposed an entirely gender-free personal pronoun – the word niH. As a symbol of non-conformity, the last letter will be capitalized, as well as give a clue as to the pronunciation of this word. As an added benefit, the word is so amorphous it lends itself to a wide variety of situations, and is very flexible in usage. “That waitperson is great. niH really does a good job!” “niH said it’s time to go now.” “Whose turn is it? Oh, it’s niHs.” 

In the course of the conversation, a question arose: “What is the plural of niH?” Hmmm, that made me think … so, is there a plural of (using oldspeak) she? Well, I guess a gathering of she-persons would be women. Using that as a guideline, it seems like niHen (both “men” and “women” end in “en”) would make the most sense. 

Now, there is no way I can make this go viral by myself. I need a strong team I can depend on, and so I am founding the Royal Order of the Knights of niH. This may ring a bell for some of you; to see the Monty Python inspiration for the Knights of niH, check it out HERE. We will recognize each other by wearing a very small shrubbery – like a spring of Thyme – pinned to the lapel. 

So, now go and spread the word – niH, niH, niH!