OT: Re: gender-neutral English usage

[arne anka]

> And I can't see
> the need for gender-specific pronouns at all.

well, since a lot of (most?) languages have those, there's certainly a  
need for that :-)

> So if someone says something about one certain person and you don't
> know who is he/she talking about and if that person is male or female,
> then you can ask "who are they?"?

the releavnt part is imo "who" -- and that is gender indifferent.
"who is [it/this/that]?"
would be the question here, i think.