Ah, Sinfest, we love you It's the first week of school at many colleges, which means it's time for another round of panic about socialist liberal indoctrination and threats to America and all that stuff. Take, for example, this "What are those crazy eggheads saying now?" piece from Knoxville's local TV station WATE, expressing wondermentat the University of Tennessee's decision to encourage teachers and students to consider using gender-neutral
Notice that the 2nd-person singular was so thoroughly obsolete even in the 17th century that when the Quakers decided to revive it, they got the cases backwards--thee for thou and thou for thee. Unless that discrepancy was intended as a recognition signal, like switching hands with your fork is said to have been for American Revolutionaries. Maybe that's an urban legend....
I suspect the ousting of 'thou' (sing.) by 'you' (pl.) drove ancestral language nazis crazy back in the day. Or maybe it just drove them all to Pennsylvania where they appear to reside currently.
I agree with you and Doc. That's the way it will happen. And it will just "happen."
I use "he or she" when writing about an individual of indeterminate sex, and mix it up with "she or he," but that's just because I worked for newspapers for so long and still subconsciously avoid anything that will cause work for the copy desk. In speech, I say "they," as everyone else does.
"Jackie picked up the book" would work, as would "Jackie picked up Jackie's book," if you were trying to emphasize which book, but not choose a gender specific posessive determiner.
It would be significantly more awkward to say "Jackie brushed zyr/xir/xem teeth." If I wanted to draft a sentence without the use of a gender-specific posessive determiner, there are more artful approaches.
(All these new grammatical categories kind of skip over reflexive pronouns, and kind of jumble possessive indicators with possessive pronouns. What up with that?)
English already mostly gave up on singular versus plural second person, and it's far less of a stretch to use the third person plural than to make up fanciful new pronouns. If Americans didn't manage adopting the metric system, what chance does a windmill-tilter like "xem" have?
You can't tell the child's sex or gender just by what they've got between their legs. And that goes double if they were born with any of the less common chromosome arrangements or hormonal settings. And if they are born intersex? You're best just letting them figure that out for themselves once they can talk.
Actually, that's probably the best policy for all babies. There'd be so much less heartbreak all around if people weren't assigned an identity at the moment of birth, and then expected to spend the entirety of the rest of their lives living up to it.
Singular They/Them/Their also is native to the english language, and goes back quite a ways. In writing and media, it fell out of favor as "proper"language use for a bit in the last century or so, but it never really stopped being used. Now its usage is coming back into favor, which is pretty awesome, since English currently lacks "official" singular gender-neutral pronouns, unlike the vast majority of languages. I mean, it's bad enough we lack the dual, but not having something as basic as a singular neutral? In a language as theft-happy as English?! It's unacceptable.
If they are, they'll be super butthurt once they find out the best practice is to let the person you are communicating with decide which pronouns they would prefer you use for them, if they would prefer the non-binary ones.
Here's my proposal for a gender-neutral pronoun. It's a contraction of "he or she or it" and it's spelled "h'orsh'it".
Gear box, please.
Sweet!
We've been using "Miz" in the South for generations! Like Miz Ann.
Notice that the 2nd-person singular was so thoroughly obsolete even in the 17th century that when the Quakers decided to revive it, they got the cases backwards--thee for thou and thou for thee. Unless that discrepancy was intended as a recognition signal, like switching hands with your fork is said to have been for American Revolutionaries. Maybe that's an urban legend....
One good point - the kidlet loved to watch it and I could get things done while she was parked in from of the teevee.
I suspect the ousting of 'thou' (sing.) by 'you' (pl.) drove ancestral language nazis crazy back in the day. Or maybe it just drove them all to Pennsylvania where they appear to reside currently.
I agree with you and Doc. That's the way it will happen. And it will just "happen."
Relevant: http://homes.chass.utoronto...
I use "he or she" when writing about an individual of indeterminate sex, and mix it up with "she or he," but that's just because I worked for newspapers for so long and still subconsciously avoid anything that will cause work for the copy desk. In speech, I say "they," as everyone else does.
"Jackie picked up the book" would work, as would "Jackie picked up Jackie's book," if you were trying to emphasize which book, but not choose a gender specific posessive determiner.
It would be significantly more awkward to say "Jackie brushed zyr/xir/xem teeth." If I wanted to draft a sentence without the use of a gender-specific posessive determiner, there are more artful approaches.
(All these new grammatical categories kind of skip over reflexive pronouns, and kind of jumble possessive indicators with possessive pronouns. What up with that?)
English already mostly gave up on singular versus plural second person, and it's far less of a stretch to use the third person plural than to make up fanciful new pronouns. If Americans didn't manage adopting the metric system, what chance does a windmill-tilter like "xem" have?
NO. That's my nickname.
You can't tell the child's sex or gender just by what they've got between their legs. And that goes double if they were born with any of the less common chromosome arrangements or hormonal settings. And if they are born intersex? You're best just letting them figure that out for themselves once they can talk.
Actually, that's probably the best policy for all babies. There'd be so much less heartbreak all around if people weren't assigned an identity at the moment of birth, and then expected to spend the entirety of the rest of their lives living up to it.
Language is infinite! It is constantly changing and birthing brand new shit. And English is one hell of a tough language; this won't even phase it.
Singular They/Them/Their also is native to the english language, and goes back quite a ways. In writing and media, it fell out of favor as "proper"language use for a bit in the last century or so, but it never really stopped being used. Now its usage is coming back into favor, which is pretty awesome, since English currently lacks "official" singular gender-neutral pronouns, unlike the vast majority of languages. I mean, it's bad enough we lack the dual, but not having something as basic as a singular neutral? In a language as theft-happy as English?! It's unacceptable.
If they are, they'll be super butthurt once they find out the best practice is to let the person you are communicating with decide which pronouns they would prefer you use for them, if they would prefer the non-binary ones.
I've found "[relevant demonstrative] asshole" works just fine. Though some people do not like being referred to "That asshole over there".