yup, struggle session time

edit: no one is right, everyone is wrong :^)

edit 2: this post is actually dedicated to Amy Goodman, please stop trying to sound cool grandma

  • Hungover [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Ahhh, German checking in to get you the struggle session you deserve, I have problems talking about non-binary people in German when they're not there or don't speak German. Obviously when they're available one could always just ask them, but what pronouns would one use for people who use they/them pronouns? "Es" - "It" seems pretty dehumanising. Or how would one refer to a non-binary doctor? Arzt and Ärztin are both heavily gendered, and there is not really a neutral term.

    • sailorfish [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      I've been following the discussions and tbh I don't think there's a consensus yet. Same with non-binary people in Russian - a non-binary person I follow on Twitter uses он/а [s/he], I've seen someone else use оно [it], which yes comes across as dehumanising to me as well but if that's what they prefer I can't yell NO YOU CAN'T!! at them. I think some people just continue using he/she, or prefer people to switch within a conversation. I don't really wanna do a struggle session about it because I'm not non-binary lmao, again I'll just defer to them. I'm sure as acceptance spreads, one form will win out eventually, as it always is with language.

      My point is simply that these conversations are taking place in non-Anglo communities - it's not like every non-binary person has given up on German/Russian and decided that being non-binary is an Anglo imposition.

      • carlin [he/him,comrade/them]
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        4 years ago

        I've seen struggle sessions that we shouldn't use it to refer to plants/animals as they have rights or whatever, and so there should be another separate new pronoun for non-human flora and fauna

        • sailorfish [she/her]
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          4 years ago

          Animate/inanimate noun class distinctions aren't unheard of in language, but I don't think they'll manage that one haha. Afaik flora typically fall on the inanimate side too. Maybe if they advocate for it as part of a push for veganism, anti climate change, animal rights.

          It still wouldn't be the weirdest thing in the history of English pronouns. I'll never be over English borrowing they/them from the Norse. It's extremely uncommon for languages to borrow function words (pronouns, prepositions, etc), it's very interesting that they/them stuck.

      • sailorfish [she/her]
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        4 years ago

        The natural solution is Ärzt_in :) Can't diss the usage of x when some of us are putting in underscores

        • hopefulmulberry [none/use name]
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          4 years ago

          But you can't even pronounce that. You already have that in Spanish since before I was even born

            • hopefulmulberry [none/use name]
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              4 years ago

              Well you still have the problem which is that it implies you can only be an Ärzt or an Ärztin. So it's inappropriate for enbys. Example

              • sailorfish [she/her]
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                4 years ago

                No? You don't pronounce Ärztin (f) with a glottal stop. So Ärzt_in (nb) with a glottal stop differentiates it and makes it non-binary. I'm not saying this is the most perfect solution that everyone should stick to, but it is a possible solution.

                • hopefulmulberry [none/use name]
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                  4 years ago

                  Sure it is, it's made from bits from the two gender terminations, so if you can make that case in Spanish you can make that case in German.

                  • sailorfish [she/her]
                    ·
                    4 years ago

                    So? Every community reaches their own decisions regarding what they consider acceptable in their own language. German has three grammatical genders (male/female/neuter), in contrast to Spanish, so the starting point is different anyway. Kinyarwandans have 16 different grammatical genders/noun classes, I'm sure they could also make lots of different arguments about our struggles but that's neither here nor there.