Wow -- long thread! The one that sticks in my craw is the tendency to use "they" as a singular pronoun, as in "If your child stays home sick from school, make sure they bring a note in the next day." This is done to make up for the fact that the English language does not contain a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun; the rules of grammar dictate that one should use the word "he" in this context, even if the subject's gender is unknown. I can understand that this offends some people, but the solution is to invent a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. Using a plural pronoun as if it were a singular pronoun is just bad form, in my opinion.