As someone speaking a native language in which I need to rephrase myself multiple times and need to work with multiple / and * before a sentence is both grammatically correct and perfectly gendered - I still take my time because inclusion is worth it - I just don’t get why anybody could ever be upset about English gender inclusive language.
An example:
Every cyclist should wear their helmet to protect their head from injury.
Jede/r Radfahrer*In sollte seinen/ihren Helm tragen, um seinen/ihren Kopf vor Verletzungen zu schützen.
We usually tend to rephrase these sentences like this:
Alle Radfahrenden sollten Helme tragen, um das Risiko für Kopfverletzungen zu minimieren.
All cyclists should wear helmets to minimise the risk of head injuries.
Fun fact about how stupid this outrage is: singular “they” has existed longer than singular “you” in the English language. If you refuse to use singular “they” but aren’t using “thou,” then you’re a hypocrite.
Yeah, its purpose is as a generalization of a group of people when referring to them in the 2nd person, but we don’t often talk to groups like that, to the point we have to specify when we are. We straight up have to add additional words to the sentence so people know we’re using it in its plural form, like saying you guys or you all (y’all).
It exists and we use it, but it’s a weird one and we never think of “you” as a plural word.
This is an awesome TIL. I’m tempted to take a stab at introducing “thou” into my daily verbiage. I am wholly aware I’d sound like a pretentious prat, but still… :-)
I do it when people complain like this about singular they. There’s a bunch of literature from the time of teachers complaining about singular you the same way these people complain about singular they. One of my favorite things to bring up and watch the smoke come out of their ears as they scramble to justify themselves.
I don’t know where you got this from or if you just invented it, but I have never heard/seen anyone mix * and /.
People interested in gender neutral language used / before the idea of more than two genders came up. Whoever wanted to specifically include non-binary people started using _ or *.
Also it makes little sense imo to include nb’s in the subject of a sentence to go back to binary scheme in the pronouns…
My highschool teacher wanted us to use * and / as given in my example. I usually rephrase myself to not having to use / that much but idk if you can just use the male or female possessive pronoun to include everyone (if you use the * at some point in the sentence to make it clear) I honestly just use the / to be super sure.
You can just replace / with *, in pronouns as well: Seine * ihre, Kolleg * innen, jede * r.
[Edit: without spaces inbetween, but otherwise things become italic in here]
This way you are the surest, since everybody is included every time.
I really have no clue where your teacher got this mixing thing from. But all this is work in progress. Societies and languages have to transform and that doesn’t need to be a linear process. Imo it’s even better if it isn’t, because exploration and multiperspectivity aren’t very linear by nature and irritation and changes make for good opportunities to think and discuss.
For example sometimes I like saying just one gender, if it makes for good, well placed irritation.
Oh thanks a lot. I learned the whole thing back in 2015 from a teacher who was close to retirement and who lived and taught the last 40 years in the last hinterland district with more deer than human inhabitants. And at university I didn’t take the course because I thought I knew it (and because it was being held on Monday morning) but I probably would have learned it there.
As someone speaking a native language in which I need to rephrase myself multiple times and need to work with multiple / and * before a sentence is both grammatically correct and perfectly gendered - I still take my time because inclusion is worth it - I just don’t get why anybody could ever be upset about English gender inclusive language.
An example:
Every cyclist should wear their helmet to protect their head from injury.
Jede/r Radfahrer*In sollte seinen/ihren Helm tragen, um seinen/ihren Kopf vor Verletzungen zu schützen.
We usually tend to rephrase these sentences like this:
Alle Radfahrenden sollten Helme tragen, um das Risiko für Kopfverletzungen zu minimieren.
All cyclists should wear helmets to minimise the risk of head injuries.
Fun fact about how stupid this outrage is: singular “they” has existed longer than singular “you” in the English language. If you refuse to use singular “they” but aren’t using “thou,” then you’re a hypocrite.
What was “you” prior to being singular?
It was the formal “you” that could refer to one or more people. Kind of like “Sie” in German.
It was exclusively plural. So English pronouns were I, thou, they for singular and we, you, they for plural.
You as plural blows my mind. I’ve heard y’all and yous as slang….
Which is funny because you probably use it all the time, like in the original meme with singular they. Y’all is short for “you all,” after all.
I don’t think I ever use you as a plural ever, except maybe as a generalization.
I brought up y’all and yous because those are current slang terms that are close to the plural use of you.
Yeah, its purpose is as a generalization of a group of people when referring to them in the 2nd person, but we don’t often talk to groups like that, to the point we have to specify when we are. We straight up have to add additional words to the sentence so people know we’re using it in its plural form, like saying you guys or you all (y’all).
It exists and we use it, but it’s a weird one and we never think of “you” as a plural word.
This is an awesome TIL. I’m tempted to take a stab at introducing “thou” into my daily verbiage. I am wholly aware I’d sound like a pretentious prat, but still… :-)
I do it when people complain like this about singular they. There’s a bunch of literature from the time of teachers complaining about singular you the same way these people complain about singular they. One of my favorite things to bring up and watch the smoke come out of their ears as they scramble to justify themselves.
I don’t know where you got this from or if you just invented it, but I have never heard/seen anyone mix * and /.
People interested in gender neutral language used / before the idea of more than two genders came up. Whoever wanted to specifically include non-binary people started using _ or *.
Also it makes little sense imo to include nb’s in the subject of a sentence to go back to binary scheme in the pronouns…
My highschool teacher wanted us to use * and / as given in my example. I usually rephrase myself to not having to use / that much but idk if you can just use the male or female possessive pronoun to include everyone (if you use the * at some point in the sentence to make it clear) I honestly just use the / to be super sure.
You can just replace / with *, in pronouns as well: Seine * ihre, Kolleg * innen, jede * r.
[Edit: without spaces inbetween, but otherwise things become italic in here]
This way you are the surest, since everybody is included every time.
I really have no clue where your teacher got this mixing thing from. But all this is work in progress. Societies and languages have to transform and that doesn’t need to be a linear process. Imo it’s even better if it isn’t, because exploration and multiperspectivity aren’t very linear by nature and irritation and changes make for good opportunities to think and discuss.
For example sometimes I like saying just one gender, if it makes for good, well placed irritation.
Oh thanks a lot. I learned the whole thing back in 2015 from a teacher who was close to retirement and who lived and taught the last 40 years in the last hinterland district with more deer than human inhabitants. And at university I didn’t take the course because I thought I knew it (and because it was being held on Monday morning) but I probably would have learned it there.
You’re welcome. Well kudos to them anyways I guess. Some hinterlands outeight ban gender equality language so I’ll them in as progressive :3
Yes, they’re a based Pink Floyd enjoyer. :3
Alle Radfahrys sollten Helme tragen, um ihren Kopf […]. :3
*Die Stadt sollte designierte Fahrradstraßen haben, damit Fahrradfahren auch ohne Helm hinreichend sicher ist.
Ich muss leider auf dem Land fahren wo sie einen in uneinsehbaren Kurven (oder mit 100km/h) mit 30cm Seitenabstand überholen.
Ein Grund wieso ich fast nur noch auf Wald-, Feld- und Güterwegen fahre.