Current Events > People using "them/they" pronouns make things so confusing >_>

(+) Yeah! (+)

I mean, I understand that they want gender neutral pronouns and I can respect that, but within the context of reading an article or even in normal discussions it's sometimes not clear whether or not we're referring to the person in question or to a group of people. It just makes some awkward language.

If they absolutely want to use gender-neutral pronouns, why not just use "it"? No one would confuse it for the plural.
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Oh look it has terrible ideas.
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1) "It" is dehumanizing.

2) It's called context, dude. It's not rocket science.

If you've ever studied a second language, you would know that knowing the context is key to figuring out what certain words refer to. Apply the same principle here and quit being lazy. (Heck, it even occurs in English. The word "you" can be singular or plural.)

It's actually generally pretty easy to avoid gender pronouns in writing, especially in news articles. Just use their name or say 'the person', 'the individual', etc. They/them generally works if the context is clear.

Metro2 posted...

1) "It" is dehumanizing.

2) It's called context, dude. It's not rocket science.

If you've ever studied a second language, you would know that knowing the context is key to figuring out what certain words refer to. Apply the same principle here and quit being lazy. (Heck, it even occurs in English. The word "you" can be singular or plural.)

TC understands all of this, they just want to make a thinly-veiled transphobic shitpost

Singular they is nothing new either
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Metro2 posted...

1) "It" is dehumanizing.

sure in the same sense that they is extrahumanizing

Dash_Harber posted...

It's actually generally pretty easy to avoid gender pronouns in writing, especially in news articles. Just use their name or say 'the person', 'the individual', etc. They/them generally works if the context is clear.

It's clear if you stop to think about it, but it really does make for some awkward language.

At some point, it's just extremely inconvenient.
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I just stick with what works: him/he and her/she.
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frozenshock posted...

Dash_Harber posted...

It's actually generally pretty easy to avoid gender pronouns in writing, especially in news articles. Just use their name or say 'the person', 'the individual', etc. They/them generally works if the context is clear.

It's clear if you stop to think about it, but it really does make for some awkward language.

At some point, it's just extremely inconvenient.

How dare people inconvenience you with their gender identity, huh?

Seriously, it's not awkward at all. Language literally has been evolving to suit our needs since it's beginning. The English language of 600, for example, is nearly unreadable today by most native speakers.

Dash_Harber posted...

frozenshock posted...

Dash_Harber posted...

It's actually generally pretty easy to avoid gender pronouns in writing, especially in news articles. Just use their name or say 'the person', 'the individual', etc. They/them generally works if the context is clear.

It's clear if you stop to think about it, but it really does make for some awkward language.

At some point, it's just extremely inconvenient.

How dare people inconvenience you with their gender identity, huh?

Seriously, it's not awkward at all. Language literally has been evolving to suit our needs since it's beginning. The English language of 600, for example, is nearly unreadable today by most native speakers.

It's not really about me though. But when you expect people to use language that just feels weird and forced all the time when writing something about them... I expect it's probably not an advantageous thing in life and work situations.

Idk, I'm all behind someone saying they're in the wrong body and want to change gender, but my god this "neither one or the other" thing is something else entirely.
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