It’s also RNLI Day here, our volunteer lifeboat service which covers the British Isles. Yes, not Britain, but the British Isles so the Republic of Ireland as well. It predates the split and they stayed on, they just keep quiet about what the R stands for.
Most but not all of the window boxes are suffering a bit of decay, and so, I aim to repair them. Today.
I laid out an assembly line, of sorts, in the garage, but I didn't buy any wood because I put it off and then because I resolved to pay only bartenders yesterday, I am going to the lumber yard today.
If you include procrastination, it's a well oiled machine over here at Chez Shock.
When one uses one in everyday life, it's easy to see how the assembly line and the industrial revolution go together. It's a vital part of my ability to organize and prioritize, in an office setting.
The King of the Ring Winter Livestock Auctioneer World Championship Qualifier from Dodge City, Kansas is live on Youtube. Don't say i didn't give you a heads up.
Random confession here, but the presence of drag queens in Robyn's post made me think of this: A while ago, I started reading a 'drag queen murder mystery' , written by, you guessed it, a drag queen. I had no idea if it would be well-written, but I thought it just sounded promising.
Turns out, I was unable to enjoy it. Why? Primarily, pronouns. The drag-queen protagonist was 'she' when in drag, and 'they' when not (although 'they' went by their given name - Joe - in daily life). The 'she' didn't bother me. But I just couldn't get used to 'they'. It was like being lightly thwacked on the forehead with a spoon every couple of minutes while I was trying to read; it was distracting, and I couldn't lose myself in the story. I gave up after about twenty or thirty pages.
But why was this? I was disappointed in myself. In real life, I have had no problem at all referring to nonbinary folks I've known as they/ them, etc. But on the page, it was this singular/plural confusion that took me out of the story every time.
Yes, I speak unusually grammatical English and I struggle with 'they' as a singular pronoun, even as I understand it's been used in that way for hundreds of years. Hard mental habit to overcome in my case. Honestly I find it's easier to use proper nouns instead of pronouns when in doubt.
I also had some trouble with this, until on a long drive with the radio on, I heard a professor of Linguistics give a talk on "Aspen Ideas Festival." He covered a couple of topics, and this was one.
He said that English is one of few languages that doesn't have a non-gendered third-person singular pronoun. "They" used to be used for that, both singular and plural, but that a few hundred years ago, that fell out of usage for no reason he knew of.
So it's an old flaw in the language, and an old solution coming back into usage.
I think it would make sense to add an "s" for plural, so it would by "they" or "theys." We still have "theirs" as the possessive so that wouldn't cause confusion. Not perfect, but it would help a bit.
"Ze," "Zir," "Hir" etc. aren't going to catch on. They're more the sort of thing college students of linguistics try on for size but if people don't know what you mean, it doesn't work.
I'm getting around to using "they" as a singular pronoun. When, in your daily work, you come across odd names like "Genesis" and "Dacoda" (for realz!), you kind of have to avoid assuming gender.
What I CANNOT deal with is the crappy constructs like "shi" and "hir".
I experienced something like this in a novel about a stagecoach driver, and like you, don't struggle nearly as much in real life talking to non-binary folks. In my case, I think it was a case of crappy editing in the novel. I know the book has been re-written and re-edited, and I should probably give it another go. The story itself was fascinating. Can't remember the title right now, unfortunately.
In this case, the book was about an 1800s teen woman who escaped abuse and possible murder charges (she fended off a stepfather who was trying to assault her, who fell and hit his head and died). She escaped in part by disguising herself as a teen boy, signing on as a cabin boy, and making it around the South American horn on a ship headed from the East Coast of the Americas to San Francisco. Once in the big city, she continued to live as a man, learned to drive stagecoach, did the run between Sacramento and Virginia City for decades, and was known as a women only to a two or three people. The book was based on a true story, though I imagine much of it was educated congecture, and is about the person who is the subject of that rolickin' tune "She'll be coming around the mountain".
But about the gendered language piece of this: there was a lot of inconsistency in the use of male and female pronouns. It made it hard to know when the author was referring to the main character vs. someone else. After discussing it with another reader of the book, we realized it would have helped a lot if the author had only used she pronouns when the main character was thinking about themself, or having inner dialogue, and male pronouns when dealing with the world that perceived them as male. It was the random back and forth that made the story hard to navigate at times.
And that, I think, is the struggle some of us have with the "they" range of pronouns. It feels non-specific, because we're so used to language being gendered. It feels muddy. But I think we need to push through that and figure out how to make it work, because gendered pronouns are DEFINITELY not right for so many of us. I feel like we're a young species, still learning, still changing. We'll figure it out if we're willing to put some effort into it.
Maybe it's the autism, but it took me a good while to wrap my head around "they" just because my brain was like, "that's more than 1 person!"
But practice makes perfect, and I took it as being "vague" about their identity...which helped? Like I'm a private person, and I'm often "vague" about my personal life details in real life. Like my kid has always been "My kid/teenager/child" without being specific about sex, a name, or even really age once we got out of the teens 🙃.
There is a cycling journalist called Phillipa York, who used to be a cyclist called Robert Millar. It is a matter of historical record which races Robert Millar won but if we talk about them do we dead name her or use her new name which makes no sense? To be fair to her she is ok with it as long as people mean well and use her correct name and pronouns when talking to her or about her.
To me, it seems like a non-issue: the individual that won those races was named Robert Millar. To use her current name would be simply inaccurate.
That said, if the person in question views all use of or referral to her past name as some sort of deadly insult or something, I suppose it isn't a matter of life and death. One could use a rather elaborate identification, e.g. "Robert Millar" (Phillipa York's past name), or "York (nee Millar)", or something like that.
Would you refer to those people Mrs. Peel kicked the living shit out of when she was single as being kicked by her maiden name or just group it all under "Mrs. Peel?"
Me too. "They" will always be plural to me, especially when written. A product of my age and formal education? I too try to be accommodating but still occasionally fail.
Factoid. Captain James Cook carried barrels of sauerkraut on his ships and none of his sailors caught scurvy (which apparently can be deadly). The Chinese invented sauerkraut.
I bought a gallon jar of kimchi from the local Korean market once and when I opened it I found that I was lucky the jar hadn't already exploded - it was a kimchi bomb in disguise. Upon opening, it quickly sprayed my entire kitchen (and me) with kimchi juice. Fizzy cabbage. I saved about half and it was good.
Highly recommend the new book 'Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History' by Linford Fisher – it's excellent. https://waterstreetbooks.com/book/9781324094951
Scurvy isn’t fun. 😕
I share Robyn's enthusiasm for "Drop Dead Gorgeous". So many hilarious characters.
I have actually seen Alice In Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy.
It's very moving.
"It's International Scurvy Awareness Day! Have Some Lemons And Limes!
Or have a gin and tonic!"
Or a potato! Potatoes, it turns out, are also high in Vitamin C.
Unearthed a couple of passable limes in the crisper this morning (& I ALWAYS have gin)
Finally...my favorite holiday.
From their album "Bedtime Stories for Pirates", here's Captain Bogg and Salty with "Scurvy":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kY95ZJQVRg
And Gin and Tonics are *doubly* good for you - the tonic water should contain quinine, which helps prevent malaria!
I really like Fever Tree tonic water.
A tasty way to self-medicate!
Jesus Dancing Christ!
It’s also RNLI Day here, our volunteer lifeboat service which covers the British Isles. Yes, not Britain, but the British Isles so the Republic of Ireland as well. It predates the split and they stayed on, they just keep quiet about what the R stands for.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=17Rwv4859T0&pp=0gcJCVACo7VqN5tD&ra=m
𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦
– Inscription on the RNLI Memorial at their headquarters in Poole
Aye, ya scurvy bilge rat!
Sorry, I thought it was Talk Like a Pirate Day.
[dons tricorner hat]
As a proud Pastafarian I regard EVERY day as Talk Like a Pirate day.
wait, shouldn't you be donning a colander??
Every day is, if you're a pirate.
Most but not all of the window boxes are suffering a bit of decay, and so, I aim to repair them. Today.
I laid out an assembly line, of sorts, in the garage, but I didn't buy any wood because I put it off and then because I resolved to pay only bartenders yesterday, I am going to the lumber yard today.
If you include procrastination, it's a well oiled machine over here at Chez Shock.
When one uses one in everyday life, it's easy to see how the assembly line and the industrial revolution go together. It's a vital part of my ability to organize and prioritize, in an office setting.
The King of the Ring Winter Livestock Auctioneer World Championship Qualifier from Dodge City, Kansas is live on Youtube. Don't say i didn't give you a heads up.
Random confession here, but the presence of drag queens in Robyn's post made me think of this: A while ago, I started reading a 'drag queen murder mystery' , written by, you guessed it, a drag queen. I had no idea if it would be well-written, but I thought it just sounded promising.
Turns out, I was unable to enjoy it. Why? Primarily, pronouns. The drag-queen protagonist was 'she' when in drag, and 'they' when not (although 'they' went by their given name - Joe - in daily life). The 'she' didn't bother me. But I just couldn't get used to 'they'. It was like being lightly thwacked on the forehead with a spoon every couple of minutes while I was trying to read; it was distracting, and I couldn't lose myself in the story. I gave up after about twenty or thirty pages.
But why was this? I was disappointed in myself. In real life, I have had no problem at all referring to nonbinary folks I've known as they/ them, etc. But on the page, it was this singular/plural confusion that took me out of the story every time.
Anyone else ever experience this?
Yes, I speak unusually grammatical English and I struggle with 'they' as a singular pronoun, even as I understand it's been used in that way for hundreds of years. Hard mental habit to overcome in my case. Honestly I find it's easier to use proper nouns instead of pronouns when in doubt.
I also had some trouble with this, until on a long drive with the radio on, I heard a professor of Linguistics give a talk on "Aspen Ideas Festival." He covered a couple of topics, and this was one.
He said that English is one of few languages that doesn't have a non-gendered third-person singular pronoun. "They" used to be used for that, both singular and plural, but that a few hundred years ago, that fell out of usage for no reason he knew of.
So it's an old flaw in the language, and an old solution coming back into usage.
I think it would make sense to add an "s" for plural, so it would by "they" or "theys." We still have "theirs" as the possessive so that wouldn't cause confusion. Not perfect, but it would help a bit.
"Ze," "Zir," "Hir" etc. aren't going to catch on. They're more the sort of thing college students of linguistics try on for size but if people don't know what you mean, it doesn't work.
I'm getting around to using "they" as a singular pronoun. When, in your daily work, you come across odd names like "Genesis" and "Dacoda" (for realz!), you kind of have to avoid assuming gender.
What I CANNOT deal with is the crappy constructs like "shi" and "hir".
Ze bought me an ice-cream cone, but then I let zer brister have a lick!
I experienced something like this in a novel about a stagecoach driver, and like you, don't struggle nearly as much in real life talking to non-binary folks. In my case, I think it was a case of crappy editing in the novel. I know the book has been re-written and re-edited, and I should probably give it another go. The story itself was fascinating. Can't remember the title right now, unfortunately.
In this case, the book was about an 1800s teen woman who escaped abuse and possible murder charges (she fended off a stepfather who was trying to assault her, who fell and hit his head and died). She escaped in part by disguising herself as a teen boy, signing on as a cabin boy, and making it around the South American horn on a ship headed from the East Coast of the Americas to San Francisco. Once in the big city, she continued to live as a man, learned to drive stagecoach, did the run between Sacramento and Virginia City for decades, and was known as a women only to a two or three people. The book was based on a true story, though I imagine much of it was educated congecture, and is about the person who is the subject of that rolickin' tune "She'll be coming around the mountain".
But about the gendered language piece of this: there was a lot of inconsistency in the use of male and female pronouns. It made it hard to know when the author was referring to the main character vs. someone else. After discussing it with another reader of the book, we realized it would have helped a lot if the author had only used she pronouns when the main character was thinking about themself, or having inner dialogue, and male pronouns when dealing with the world that perceived them as male. It was the random back and forth that made the story hard to navigate at times.
And that, I think, is the struggle some of us have with the "they" range of pronouns. It feels non-specific, because we're so used to language being gendered. It feels muddy. But I think we need to push through that and figure out how to make it work, because gendered pronouns are DEFINITELY not right for so many of us. I feel like we're a young species, still learning, still changing. We'll figure it out if we're willing to put some effort into it.
Maybe it's the autism, but it took me a good while to wrap my head around "they" just because my brain was like, "that's more than 1 person!"
But practice makes perfect, and I took it as being "vague" about their identity...which helped? Like I'm a private person, and I'm often "vague" about my personal life details in real life. Like my kid has always been "My kid/teenager/child" without being specific about sex, a name, or even really age once we got out of the teens 🙃.
There is a cycling journalist called Phillipa York, who used to be a cyclist called Robert Millar. It is a matter of historical record which races Robert Millar won but if we talk about them do we dead name her or use her new name which makes no sense? To be fair to her she is ok with it as long as people mean well and use her correct name and pronouns when talking to her or about her.
To me, it seems like a non-issue: the individual that won those races was named Robert Millar. To use her current name would be simply inaccurate.
That said, if the person in question views all use of or referral to her past name as some sort of deadly insult or something, I suppose it isn't a matter of life and death. One could use a rather elaborate identification, e.g. "Robert Millar" (Phillipa York's past name), or "York (nee Millar)", or something like that.
Would you refer to those people Mrs. Peel kicked the living shit out of when she was single as being kicked by her maiden name or just group it all under "Mrs. Peel?"
Yes. It's exhausting.
Me too. "They" will always be plural to me, especially when written. A product of my age and formal education? I too try to be accommodating but still occasionally fail.
The oldest recorded use of a gender-neutral plural pronoun being used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun was 1392.
I'm cool with the usage.
Lemons and limes are great things indeed. Neat holiday!
How scurvious we'd be without 'em!
Have a Sprite. It's got the great taste of Limon.
The Uncola?
I think that's 7-up
Crisp and clean with no caffeine!
😄
Factoid. Captain James Cook carried barrels of sauerkraut on his ships and none of his sailors caught scurvy (which apparently can be deadly). The Chinese invented sauerkraut.
SOMEBODY CRACK A PORTHOLE! SHEESH!
I love kimchi, but I have to eat it on the back porch because my spouse despises the smell when I open it.
I bought a gallon jar of kimchi from the local Korean market once and when I opened it I found that I was lucky the jar hadn't already exploded - it was a kimchi bomb in disguise. Upon opening, it quickly sprayed my entire kitchen (and me) with kimchi juice. Fizzy cabbage. I saved about half and it was good.
Those Koreans sure could ferment a cabbage.
"Sauerkraut, 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!"
Highly recommend the new book 'Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History' by Linford Fisher – it's excellent. https://waterstreetbooks.com/book/9781324094951
Exploiting the locals is a distinctly American practice.
North or South American?
Along with localizing the exploits. A perfectly matched set.
The British, and most of the many other European colonizers, have a rich history too. Like ours, much of it still half hidden, I think.
... by design
https://www.wonkette.com/p/cheeky-bounder-donald-trump-forgets/comment/252672147