After having multiple conversations with parents about their non-binary children, I have to admit that constantly using they/them gets confusing as hell. This parent has multiple children and I frequently couldn’t tell if they were referring to their children collectively, or to the non-binary child individually.
Potential solutions:
- while saying “they”, hold up one or two fingers depending on if the word is singular or plural (also possible in emoji: ☝️/✌️)
- mutter “singular” or “plural” under your breath before saying “they”
- replace plural they with “theys” or “thy’all”, à la “yous” or “y’all”
- pronounce singular they as /θeɪ/ and plural they as /ðeɪ/
Isn’t it the difference between the ‘th’ sound in they(ð) and through(θ)?
And then imagine being one of the basically 7 billion people whose first language, isn’t english, but are forced to use it because of, the internet. This type of let’s be real malicious syntax is a huge issue.
“Oh those poor, poor ESLs, who are far too stupid to learn the intricacies of Our Tongue, surely we must dumb it down for their sake!”
Listen, as the child of an immigrant and a language learner in xyr own right, the problem with people being forced to learn a complex language is not that the language is complex but that people are forced to learn it. Making the world accessible for ESLs or non-Anglophones does not mean berating native speakers of English as “malicious” for developing their own language to suit their own needs.
I’m not even going to dignify the first bit with a response. It is basically an admission on your behalf that you have no idea what it is like, having to use a second language you never chose that was forced upon you. A language that has no native speakers in a 5k km circle.
On the second parahraph of thesorus bullshit. English is either “the” global language, or the native speakers own it. It is one or the other. If you force your shit language on others you lose ownership of it. Which is a pretty sweet deal as far as I’m concerned since you literally have the upper hand in any argument (for example using abbreviations such as ESL), but it doesn’t matter ultimately what I think, because you made the choice of force globalising english.
Gender status: 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
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