Deadpan Posted February 26, 2015 I thought the discussion was "what pronoun should you use for a transgender person" and the answer was "ask and use what they want you to." I apologize if I was mistaken. I think there were several things being discussed here, one of which was asking about pronoun preferences, another was neutral pronouns, yet another was the creation of new pronouns, and then I introduced concerns about entirely individualistic approaches to a pronouns becoming more common and how that might affect language, which derailed everything a little bit. My bad. I didn't say it sounds dumb, I said it's functionality is dumb. If you can prove me wrong in that aspect, I'd be open to changing my mind. But its functionality is exactly the same as other pronouns! There is no change in when you'd use them, or how, the sound and spelling are the only meaningful differences. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apple Cider Posted February 26, 2015 Gender neutral pronouns mean that they exist for genders outside of the "binary", specifically, and yes, calling attention to someone's gender by using a pronoun that fits them is what they want - it's specifically saying "this is the pronoun that suits me and my gender." Gender neutral doesn't mean literally "free from gender" but rather "not he/him or she/her" which is how we've codified gender (so only 2, though many people who are GQ and otherwise still use he/she) in our language thus far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Professor Video Games Posted February 26, 2015 I didn't say it sounds dumb, I said it's functionality is dumb. If you can prove me wrong in that aspect, I'd be open to changing my mind. "They" and "their" are plural? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted February 26, 2015 I didn't say it sounds dumb, I said it's functionality is dumb. If you can prove me wrong in that aspect, I'd be open to changing my mind. Actually you've mocked the words a bunch of times by intentionally using slight alterations to them which heavily implies you just think they sound dumb. But fine then, they're better than "they" "their" "them" because those are plural words, and they're better than "they" "their" "them" because those are not gender-neutral, they are gender-unspecific. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Posted February 26, 2015 How's everyone's life going? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick R Posted February 26, 2015 I love that any Idle Thumbs thread can turn into a Social Justice thread at a moment's notice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deadpan Posted February 26, 2015 The context is entirely different. First off, I'm willing to bet that the majority of people will have no idea about what it means, and those that do will have vastly different views on what they think it means. Second, it specifically draws attention to whatever person you're referring to. Third, any time you refer to that person in front of someone new, you will have to take the time to explain the meaning and reasoning behind why you are using that word. If sound and spelling are the only meaningful differences between existing words, then what is the value of trying to introduce the words at all? Why introduce more words that have the exact same meaning of existing words but so many more issues? I didn't say the meaning was identical, I said that the function of these words is identical to those of other pronouns. That's because all pronouns everywhere are used for the same purpose and fulfill the same grammatical and syntactical functions. There's difference in usage, and meaning, but the only functional difference these new pronouns have to old pronouns is the combination of sounds and letters needed to produce them. (I did call this the only meaningful difference, but only because it was the only difference relevant to your specific complaint) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mawd Posted February 26, 2015 Things are looking up. So that's nice. In light news I'm off to play in my pathfinder group, and later this weekend I'm competing in my niche video game for an Australasian states tournament. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apple Cider Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? Pretty okay - going to watch TV all night, have a full weekend of recording and editing podcasts and video games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted February 27, 2015 I just finished up my taxes, and owe a chunk more than I expected. The last two years have been a roller coaster for the business, and getting my estimated payments right has been a pain in the ass. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dewar Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? Work has either improved, or I'm just managing the crappiness better, so at least I'm not super depressed anymore. Our lease on our current apartment is up sooner than I expected but, rather than meekly accepting the raise in rent, I stepped up and complained about some of the issues we've had with the place and they seem willing to negotiate so that's cool. So yeah, looking up Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apple Cider Posted February 27, 2015 Anyone excited to watch House of Cards S3 tomorrow? :3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pabosher Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? I work too much, but I'm making decent money so that's good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted February 27, 2015 Nobody's mentioned that we've hit page 555 in this thread. I can't let this moment pass us by. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangela Lansbury Posted February 27, 2015 I bought a black and white print of a blowjob photo over the weekend. It looks good where I hung it over my TV. Life is pretty great right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mawd Posted February 27, 2015 Nobody's mentioned that we've hit page 555 in this thread. I can't let this moment pass us by. For Posterity! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gormongous Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? Because of passive-aggressive competition between the chair of my department and the head of the interdisciplinary center, it's the second week in a row that we're hosting a conference. An accident of job responsibilities has made me the lead non-staff person for both, which wasn't so bad last week, but is now close to killing me. I spent most of my day in my car, driving back and forth from the airport, while thinking how much better I'd be paid if I were a taxi driver rather than a grad student obligated to do stuff like this all the time for free. Well... not technically for free, because I was later compensated with as many lemon squares as I could carry. After eleven hours in a car, I literally couldn't carry enough. I'd be less grumpy about all of this if the conferences were any good, but last week was an insular and regional affair where a bunch of old white professors all gave each other commemorative plaques for being old and white and professors, and now this week is stapled together from the vanity projects of several different professors from competing institutions. I feel sorry for anyone whose registration fees are paying for these lemon squares, because they aren't worth it to any of us. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? I'm constantly worried about money and on top of that I'm going through some really lousy stressful shit that I can't talk about. And I'm super bummed about a Christmas-related thing even though it's February. I kind of hate myself right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deadpan Posted February 27, 2015 I have some weird health stuff going on at the moment that, after ruling out other things, turned out to be most likely due to my liver and kidneys deciding that now would be a good time to get rid of some toxins and flushing those into my system. Which is a good thing, I guess, or certainly not as bad as some of the stuff I imagined, but it's still pretty annoying for feeling unwelcome in my body in the moment and having no control over when it ends. I've been trying to speed it along by eating healthy, but there's still no way to tell how long it'll last and the estimates I get from people who've dealt with this already are like "might be a couple more weeks!" I'd really prefer to be able to do the stuff I should be doing at the moment and not feel exhausted all day long for no reason :/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gwardinen Posted February 27, 2015 Anyone excited to watch House of Cards S3 tomorrow? :3 I totally did not know that was happening! I am now! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badfinger Posted February 27, 2015 How's everyone's life going? At work, general end-of-month ramp up to get things out the door combined with two trade shows worth of marketing materials coming back at the same time has made it a little bit crazy. On the plus side, I personally am feeling very little stress from this job. I'm almost at the point where I hit 90 days and swap to permanent status, and my job responsibilities have already expanded beyond the previous person's in this position (this is a good thing). When I was asking about that, I got a nice compliment from a co-worker. Plus next week will slow down, and I'm excited for all sorts of fun shenanigans to come out of GDC (and PAX, holy crap). I lost 4 pounds this week at our official company health challenge weigh in. I'm going out just for funsies this weekend. The company is throwing us a pizza party today. So pretty good thank you for asking! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
