New pronouns just dropped - what's your opinion on them
The media and twitter has been talking about all the different pronouns people call themselves. Just wondering, what is everyone's opinions on them?
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
HijabaDabbaDoo · F
bijouxbroussard · F
@HijabaDabbaDoo That’s a good point, isn’t it ? But "Mrs./Miss" is less a pronoun than an honorific that specifically announced a woman’s increased status as a wife (since men have no equivalent difference in title).
What society has had to get used to is "Ms." and not necessarily knowing her marital status.
What society has had to get used to is "Ms." and not necessarily knowing her marital status.
ffony · M
@HijabaDabbaDoo What do you really mean by 'evolve with language' - can you spell it out?
zonavar68 · 56-60, M
@bijouxbroussard For men there's a relegated to history 'master' pronoun which I hated people using to describe me when I was a kid. FFS I have a real name and it's not 'bloke man'. But 'mate' will do fine as that's aussie vernacular for 'that guy over there'.
chilloutab2 · 46-50, M
@HijabaDabbaDoo Those are not pronouns... they are gendered titles. The English language only has three kinds of pronouns: It-its; She-her-hers; He-him-his.
Each of these three groups then take the plural forms: These-those-they-them-their-theirs
And now we could have the possible modification of the English language with the addition of more pronouns... but before that we need consensus on what these pronouns are, how they are to be used and modified according to their use cases, whether we can set a limit to the number of pronouns, and if so what that limit is... etc.
Language is a matter of convention... a sound or group of sounds come to signify something when: a) most people agree that it signifies that very thing & b) it keeps signifying that very thing for an adequate length of time for it to be officially codified or accepted by a majority.
If some people introduce a pronoun into the English language today - or several pronouns - then those will have to pass through the same due process and stand the same test of time for them to become part of the English lexicon. Modifying any language takes consensus and decades, sometimes centuries.... unless it is a scientific descriptor or a technical term (and even those often follow the same process).
Each of these three groups then take the plural forms: These-those-they-them-their-theirs
And now we could have the possible modification of the English language with the addition of more pronouns... but before that we need consensus on what these pronouns are, how they are to be used and modified according to their use cases, whether we can set a limit to the number of pronouns, and if so what that limit is... etc.
Language is a matter of convention... a sound or group of sounds come to signify something when: a) most people agree that it signifies that very thing & b) it keeps signifying that very thing for an adequate length of time for it to be officially codified or accepted by a majority.
If some people introduce a pronoun into the English language today - or several pronouns - then those will have to pass through the same due process and stand the same test of time for them to become part of the English lexicon. Modifying any language takes consensus and decades, sometimes centuries.... unless it is a scientific descriptor or a technical term (and even those often follow the same process).