Gender-Neutral Terms?

[Autumn]

but like. ew. binarism.

sadly it happens often, i argued with my english teacher about he/she vs they junior year and lost :(

as for me i typically use they but i used 'eir' today in a homework assignment (and i don't give a shit what the professor/my classmates say about it) and i want to make this a habit (using e/eir/em i mean)

 

[sovram]

idk the only problem I see with "ey" is that ... plenty of people use that as their pronouns I guess? and might have some sense of it not being really "neutral" I guess?

I don't know if that's actually true but that's sort of the feeling I get (since I use "e") and ... I don't know ... yeah I'm not sure how I feel about that

anyway I use "they" because I don't see any reason to use anything else

 

[Minish]

idk the only problem I see with "ey" is that ... plenty of people use that as their pronouns I guess? and might have some sense of it not being really "neutral" I guess?

I don't know if that's actually true but that's sort of the feeling I get (since I use "e") and ... I don't know ... yeah I'm not sure how I feel about that

anyway I use "they" because I don't see any reason to use anything else

spivak pronouns were made to be gender-neutral; it's the other way around! (in practice, I also avoid using 'e' so generally, though)

I wish I could warm up to xie/sie/hir etc. as a personal pronoun but they're just used way more often as a neutral 'we don't know the gender' that I can't :/ maybe I wish people would stop using them that way? otherwise what's the point other than woo less ambiguous grammar. especially cis ones who don't have to worry about their own pronoun garnering ungendered associations !

 

[Adriane]

spivak pronouns were made to be gender-neutral; it's the other way around! (in practice, I also avoid using 'e' so generally, though)

I don't see why Spivak can't be used as generally as singular they!

I wish I could warm up to xie/sie/hir etc. as a personal pronoun but they're just used way more often as a neutral 'we don't know the gender' that I can't :/ maybe I wish people would stop using them that way? otherwise what's the point other than woo less ambiguous grammar. especially cis ones who don't have to worry about their own pronoun garnering ungendered associations !

I am going to second you here! I haven't seen 'xie' so much, but sie and hir are like. Really difficult to discern from 'standard' binary pronouns in speech and still bear resemblance in writing...

 

[Keldeo]

"They" pretty much whenever.

 

[Minish]

I don't see why Spivak can't be used as generally as singular they!

Because we have 'they'! Why can't other non-he/she pronouns be reserved for non-binary people who want to use them personally? That's what's more important.

I don't want the main association with my pronoun to be 'no gender data available'. My gender isn't unknown, thanks! I'd rather use something less general but I can't, because I can't deal with the negative response.


Sie and hir are fun because together ('zee' and 'heer', not that close to binary pronouns??) they just sound vaguely in the middle of 'he' and 'she'. Whereas 'e' just sounds like 'he', as I have been frequently informed.

 

[Shiny Grimer]

For the longest time I thought "hir" was pronounced "her" and I was like "what's the point?" Then I realized it's pronounced like "here" and everything made much more sense.

I use "they" for "gender unknown/unspecified/not really important." Otherwise, whatever pronoun you prefer.

 

[Minish]

since for me 'his' and 'hirs' sound pretty much identical, I actually like to say it more like a welsh 'here'! which is something like hyur, I guess. it sounds prettier and less out-of-place! :o

 

[Murkrow]

since for me 'his' and 'hirs' sound pretty much identical, I actually like to say it more like a welsh 'here'! which is something like hyur, I guess. it sounds prettier and less out-of-place! :o

You know I was going to say, being Welsh, I was actually surprised that hir actually isn't supposed to be pronounced like that.

Also being Welsh, "something like hyur" looks like it should sound like a cross between "her" and "urgh" D:


EDIT: Also I say they

 

[kyeugh]

I'm relatively new to this whole he not being an acceptable gender-neutral pronoun. But if that's the case, I would probably switch my vote to they.

 

[Dannichu]

My delighfully Welsh housemate pronounces 'here', 'year' and 'ear' in exactly the same way. (adorable: she thought the expression was 'donkey's ears' rather than 'donkey's years' because donkey's ears are long)

I still feel that 'they' is only really used if a person has stated that it's their preferred pronoun, or when referring to an unknown person. I feel uncomfortable, for example, when writing an essay, quoting someone with a non-gender-specific name and saying 'they argue that' (because it sounds like I'm talking about multiple people) or 's/he argues that'. I will try and find their website or googleimage search for pictures of them because I feel it makes me research look shoddy if I don't know, but at the same time It SHOULDN'T MATTER AT ALL.

 

[Minish]

Relatedly, a note to all: a Pokemon species is not a 'him'. If you like to refer to a species with a singular pronoun, use 'it' like you would for animals!!

(I realise some people call any and all animals 'he'. Stop that, also.)

 

[Murkrow]

(I realise some people call any and all animals 'he'. Stop that, also.)

Really? I've only ever come across people who call all of some animals he and all of some animals she.
Not that that's much better but I'm just surprised some people call all animals by one pronoun.

 

[Minish]

Really? I've only ever come across people who call all of some animals he and all of some animals she.
Not that that's much better but I'm just surprised some people call all animals by one pronoun.

Yeah, there are definitely people like that who exist as well. Probably worse.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Relatedly, a note to all: a Pokemon species is not a 'him'.

???

 

[Minish]

Why would you say 'I like nidoking he's my favourite type of pokemon' like even then it sounds really silly.

I can imagine kids doing it who see a Pokemon and think it's just like, one character! Especially if they're watching the anime! Especially since most cartoon animals tend to be implied as boys (generally because this is cyclic)! But, like, if you're not a kid, you really don't have to do this...


(maybe you're being facetious. i guess i wanted to rant a bit more ooooops)

 

[Spoon]

Why would you say 'I like nidoking he's my favourite type of pokemon' like even then it sounds really silly.

How's "I like Nidoking; it's my favorite type of Pokémon," any better? Wouldn't it be "they're" instead?

 

[Minish]

How's "I like Nidoking; it's my favorite type of Pokémon," any better? Wouldn't it be "they're" instead?

Sure!

 

[shy ♡]

???

Trans nidoking u_u

 

[1. Luftballon]

How's "I like Nidoking; it's my favorite type of Pokémon," any better? Wouldn't it be "they're" instead?

well, if the nidoking category of pokémon, sure, it, categories have no natural gender and english doesn't assign them a grammatical gender ?? if the group of pokémon nidoking, then they, them.

"I like nidoking; it's my favourite type of pokémon"; "I like nidoking, they're my favourite pokémon" ??