Preferred pronouns gaining traction on campus

[Meathead]

The English language is woefully short of appropriate gender-neutral singular pronouns...

closest would be "it"... which of course doesn't quite work when applied to persons...

All languages are.

No, not all.

Really, I may be wrong so do tell. I would be interested in languages that don't make sexual distinctions in the third person singular.

 

[Montrovant]

Fortunately, human beings are - for the most part - not gender-neutral. So, fear no woe.

But there could certainly be plenty of situations where one might describe a person without knowing their gender. I have certainly used he/she on multiple occasions because I didn't know a person's gender. Just on this message board, I often do not know the gender of a poster, and a gender-neutral pronoun would be convenient.

That's why for centuries the male pronoun was used when the gender was unknown or unstated. It worked just fine. Feminists started making a stink about this back in the 70s and now we are stuck with the awkward "he/she" or the inaccurate use of the plural.

I find it hard to be upset that women wanted to be treated as equals in language. Using he for unknown gender is, I would think, an outgrowth of the generally patriarchal nature of humanity and does tend to point out that women are considered lesser.

 

[novasteve]

Considered lesser? I suppose that's why society for millenia had treated non rich men as disposable? How many millions of women who were drafted were sent to their deaths?

 

[Unkotare]

All languages are.

No, not all.

Really, I may be wrong so do tell. I would be interested in languages that don't make sexual distinctions in the third person singular.

Malay, Tagalog, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Armenian, Persian, Maithili, Bengali, Nepali, Oriya, Assamese, Turkish, etc. There's a bunch more.

 

[Unkotare]

But there could certainly be plenty of situations where one might describe a person without knowing their gender. I have certainly used he/she on multiple occasions because I didn't know a person's gender. Just on this message board, I often do not know the gender of a poster, and a gender-neutral pronoun would be convenient.

That's why for centuries the male pronoun was used when the gender was unknown or unstated. It worked just fine. Feminists started making a stink about this back in the 70s and now we are stuck with the awkward "he/she" or the inaccurate use of the plural.

I find it hard to be upset that women wanted to be treated as equals in language. .

For all those centuries, it wasn't seen as (nor intended to be) a value judgement on gender, but a practical convenience of grammar. It wasn't until some academicians found out they could make a living off of manufacturing outrage over everything possible that anybody wasted their time worrying about it.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Play along with the mentally defective freak, or else. Liberals love enabling the mentally ill

'Preferred' pronouns gain traction at US colleges

And again the OP, as with most on the social right, provides evidence of conservative fear and disdain for diversity and dissent, and unwarranted hatred for those who ‘dare’ to exercise their right to individual liberty.

 

[PredFan]

I will only ever use he, she, or it.

 

[alan1]

I've got a preferred pronoun for them,
fi

Hello fi Skylar Crownover, I hear what you are saying but you are a fucking idiot.
We welcome your input fi Genny Beemyn, but you are a fucking idiot.
No, fi Lucy Ferriss, I'm not uncomfortable, but you are a fucking idiot.

The good thing about the pronoun "fi", is that it goes well beyond gender, it can also be used in political discussions, religious discussions and racial discussion.

how long before somebody calls me fi alan1?

 

[novasteve]

I will only ever use he, she, or it.

The aids brigade will see you get fired for not playing along

 

[Montrovant]

That's why for centuries the male pronoun was used when the gender was unknown or unstated. It worked just fine. Feminists started making a stink about this back in the 70s and now we are stuck with the awkward "he/she" or the inaccurate use of the plural.

I find it hard to be upset that women wanted to be treated as equals in language. .

For all those centuries, it wasn't seen as (nor intended to be) a value judgement on gender, but a practical convenience of grammar. It wasn't until some academicians found out they could make a living off of manufacturing outrage over everything possible that anybody wasted their time worrying about it.

But perhaps that was because, for all those centuries, women were considered the lesser gender?

It doesn't require outrage to wonder why, in a situation where gender is in question, using the male pronoun makes any sense.

Then again, plenty of things in English make little sense.

 

[Unkotare]

I find it hard to be upset that women wanted to be treated as equals in language. .

For all those centuries, it wasn't seen as (nor intended to be) a value judgement on gender, but a practical convenience of grammar. It wasn't until some academicians found out they could make a living off of manufacturing outrage over everything possible that anybody wasted their time worrying about it.

But perhaps that was because, for all those centuries, women were considered the lesser gender?

That's what the 'feminists' discovered they could make money repeating alright...

 

[Zoom-boing]

Regardless of how they think of/describe themselves, people are not neuter-gender. This is dumb.

 

[Montrovant]

For all those centuries, it wasn't seen as (nor intended to be) a value judgement on gender, but a practical convenience of grammar. It wasn't until some academicians found out they could make a living off of manufacturing outrage over everything possible that anybody wasted their time worrying about it.

But perhaps that was because, for all those centuries, women were considered the lesser gender?

That's what the 'feminists' discovered they could make money repeating alright...

So wait, are you saying the majority of human history has not been one of patriarchal, male-dominated societies? I just can't tell what you're trying to say here...

 

[Unkotare]

But perhaps that was because, for all those centuries, women were considered the lesser gender?

That's what the 'feminists' discovered they could make money repeating alright...

So wait, are you saying the majority of human history has not been one of patriarchal, male-dominated societies? I just can't tell what you're trying to say here...

Yeah,yeah, I'm sure Prof. Ironbox will give you a good grade for repeating the 'correct' dogma...

 

[Montrovant]

That's what the 'feminists' discovered they could make money repeating alright...

So wait, are you saying the majority of human history has not been one of patriarchal, male-dominated societies? I just can't tell what you're trying to say here...

Yeah,yeah, I'm sure Prof. Ironbox will give you a good grade for repeating the 'correct' dogma...

That sounds like a yes, but I just can't tell!

 

[NYcarbineer]

What fucking liberal deviant attention whores. You are such a precious snowflake you need new pronouns. Fags

Around here, we call the guys who have inanimate objects as penises 'novas'.

 

[novasteve]

What fucking liberal deviant attention whores. You are such a precious snowflake you need new pronouns. Fags

Around here, we call the guys who have inanimate objects as penises 'novas'.

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