• CarmineCatboy [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    40% of latino voters saying latinx bothers them is way less than I expected. Stuff like Latinx or Latine or Latino@ flow terribly in our languages and redditors are always complaining about it.

    • kristina [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      latine is officially adopted language in argentina and cuba tho

      • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        I'm just saying. The left wing in Brazil decided to call Dilma 'presidenta' as opposed to 'presidente' (both forms would be gramatically correct, but for an older person presidenta sounds strange, almost mocking towards the person), and after 10 years it will still trigger right wingers. So I expected way more than 40% people to claim that they are annoyed by it, especially in the US. Just shows that culture war is bunk and relies entirely on constant propaganda.

        One thing I'll never get though is why english speakers don't just use 'latin'.

        • kristina [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          idk. i just remember reading something about a style guide from major news places in cuba and argentina and they included it. thought it was neat. brazil im sure is different :bolso-pain:

          • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            I'd have to become more familiar with news publications and everyday usage in Argentina and Cuba. The best I can do is remember how the family code was passed via a democratic dialogue across the island, as opposed to a more top down disposition - which is what I expect from Argentina.

            Brazil could have the same style guides in it, but I'd expect minimal purchase amongst the population as it (like everything else) would be a top down political project. Besides, odds are the vast majority of the population wouldn't even know about it. By sheer inertia gender neutrality is baked into the context of speech, the masculine being generally used, and if someone even knows about 'Latinx' or 'Latine' odds are they are online and a redditor (and have very strong opinions about it, both for and against). Of course, the advantage goes to the house, as in the people who don't want something changed.

            At most what would happen is if the school system started using -e as gender neutral as opposed to o(a) and a(o) for it's forms and then the kids would assimilate it. But that's 2 generations of work.

          • mittens [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            I've thought about it and this is my stupid uneducated opinion: the way it's going, I think it will be introduced to everyday vernaculars on a word-by-word basis, specifically, I think gender-neutral words that address crowds in some way will become normalized first (e.g. compañeres, amigues, etc). Obviously reactionaries will always protest this, but consider that there's also pushback against prescriptivism. Institutional pushback against prescriptivism even. Despite AMLO being kind of tepid in these aspects, the official textbooks for elementary school children specifically goes against prescriptivism. As in, they don't state "using word is wrong" and "using word is right". Exciting stuff is being cooked in Mexico and the rest of latinamerica, language-wise.

            • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Hell, I use 'they' all the time in English because I'm just lazy. That's how gender neutrality wins.

        • chickentendrils [any, comrade/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          One thing I’ll never get though is why english speakers don’t just use ‘latin’.

          This is what I use! I was reading something aloud the first time I ever saw Latinx and just figured it was an extra char/typo and just read it Latin. Which is how I choose to read and pronounce it. Not like anyone would be confused, though weirdly it's the only second language I learned in middle/high school.

        • teddiursa [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Latin is a language. It means an entirely different thing than latino

          • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            Latin is also a designation based on geographic and cultural concerns and, therefore, seems to me a much more obvious path towards gender neutrality than Latinx. At least for english. Politically better too. What are they gonna say? 'You're only latin if you're from the latium region of italy, otherwise you're sparkling andalucían?'

    • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Most people in Guatemala aren't even aware Latinx exists unless they're big into Anglo media or studied abroad.

      • Dryad [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        it works in english

        It really doesn't work in any language I know of. Are you supposed to say "Latin ecks?" Because that's way more awkward and difficult to fit into a sentence than Latino or Latina

      • CarmineCatboy [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        in portuguese we'd end saying 'la-ch*nks', which would be the new n-word misunderstanding meme i guess

      • teddiursa [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        The term was invented by feminist spanish speakers in Latin America

    • teddiursa [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I am queer and latina and i know a lot of Latino people who use latinx and latine. They are nonbinary so they use it for their own self identification