The American Scholar, in its self-congratulating 75th Anniversary issue, announces a new candidate for a gender neutral singular pronoun.
In the past, most writers have opted for "he" to represent both masculine and female interests. This practice, as one might expect, has summoned the always-charming fire-chariot discourse of Medea. Other ideas have been tried, like the archaic singular ou. In the 1800's, thon and ze have been attempted, as has the ugly but very 70-ish s/he.
I have tried the awkward overuse of one, to the detriment of meaning and style.
The newest candidate is sponsored by D. N. DeLuna of Johns Hopkins, who is pushing the neologism hu (pronounced with the short vowel, as in "huh?"). "Hu" is short for "human," I guess, and has nothing to do with "man," or "woman" (or "wymyn").
Hu. Hmmmmm.