time and time again these pronouns are cast aside as either simply meaning “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” respectively *or* that they do get used but in very rare circumstances. even still, some say they’re not used at all in daily life.
i’ve recently seen a few examples of them being used by natives outside of scripted media but i don’t really get what tone they give off or what makes someone use them.
could anyone provide any examples and explanations of what the nuance is when they’re used as third person pronouns instead of the person’s name, title, この人/あの人, or nothing at all?
i’ve tried looking into this more times than i can count, but every time i see someone even allude to them being (rarely) used in daily speech there never is an explanation of why or what connotation they have as pronouns.
basically, i understand that generally japanese doesn’t use third-person pronouns and that pronouns in general are often left out due to context but i’d like to get a better understanding of what 彼 and 彼女 mean in modern japanese.
EDIT: here is one of the examples i saw in a conversation with 彼:
「あ… なんかやっぱ お客さん？ 第３者の人が入ると普段 見れないシュンは 見れるなって思ったし 仕事になったら きっと彼は ちゃんとやるタイプ 」
by onestbeaux