- Thread starter
- #21
I agree with you in that words will arise to fill in the now empty space in the genderless pronoun niche, but I don't agree that shoving in some random sounds will create those words. The words that you have listed are a few of those that have survived long enough to become words, a small fraction of those that are coined. Furthermore, all the words that you have listed are compounds of preexisting words, which lends them extra legitimacy, which 'cir' doesn't have. The word "watashi" TheCrystallineEntity mentioned, or an Anglicized version of it, would be a good choice.I look at it somewhat like the arrival of other new terms into the lexicon: cyberpunk, cyberspace, photobomb, microaggression. Those are all relatively new words that we've pulled into the language. In the case of pronouns, a perceptual shift is required in addition to simply adopting the new words, thus the resistance.
I agree with you in that words will arise to fill in the now empty space in the genderless pronoun niche, but I don't agree that shoving in some random sounds will create those words. The words that you have listed are a few of those that have survived long enough to become words, a small fraction of those that are coined.
I have never heard them before, but that doesn't mean anything. I guess it comes down to whether or not the bulk of your readers will have heard them before or not.I don't think they're random sounds at this point. Ve/vis/vir have been around since the 1980s, so 30+ years. Xe, etc., goes back another decade before that. Even though they are not widely used at this point, they've been in existence, and have been used in limited circumstances, for some time now. The decision to employ options that have been around for that long isn't "random," but is a deliberate decision to settle on one of a few pre-existing strategies for dealing with the problem.
Well, watashi is the default first-person pronoun in Japanese. As I understand it, boku is used by males in the same circunstances that one would use -kun. If you throw atashi and ore around in Japanese conversations, people will look at you weird. They're words used in anime that aren't used in real life. Same as kisama.I use they/their to refer to genderless characters.
Here's a random fact: there is a gender neutral [and very formal/polite] Japanese pronoun: watashi. Yet on my Japanese rosetta Stone programme, watashi is tossed around as easily as atashi, boku, and ore are in anime. I found it a little strange. [Oh, and a sentence of a man introducing himself started with 'boku', which is usually used by boys or young men. I found that equally odd.]
There’s a difference between coming up with a fake word for a non-existent concept and coming up with fake grammar when there is a perfectly viable standard option. But ignore me, I’m just a disgruntled (former) English teacher.
I think it is about unfamiliar, not fake. A lot of the time familiar is better, because it does not require effort for the reader to understand what is going on. is better, you can see this in the fact that many fantasy worlds are similar (elves, Dark Lord, dwarves, goblins, etc.) This is not because these things are better than any alternatives, or because the writers are unimaginative, but because people know what to expect when they hear 'elf' (Thank you Tolkien), and not when they hear 'grifnobbler'. This point is meaningless if you either want to play CS Lewis and make up your own words or feel your audience has heard the word before. As for disgruntled English teachers, my grandmother is a PhD of 19th and 20th Century French Literature and Philosophy. I can tell you from personal experience that you will never satisfy those people. They are just like the realist people, once you've spent years getting weapons, armor and combat terminology, they'll want to know about your dragon's calorie intake.This is akin to calling news reports one doesn’t like “fake news.” It simply isn’t a compelling argument.
I see it more like calling a rabbit a smeerp. But like I said, people like me probably aren’t your target audience so feel free to ignore me.This is akin to calling news reports one doesn’t like “fake news.” It simply isn’t a compelling argument.
All i can contribute is that i've read "humans are weird" tumblr stories with genderless aliens that use xe/xir and I found it very distracting and annoying.
But maybe this just shows the limits of the English language. And maybe we have to adapt.
I see it more like calling a rabbit a smeerp. But like I said, people like me probably aren’t your target audience so feel free to ignore me.
I use that as well, except the shortened form is terry/terries. Therian isn't used at all, because I haven't thought about it. Now that you've mentioned it, I may have some characters use it just to set them apart from everyone else. There may be some cultural values that differ between the different short forms. Terry/terries may be the more vulgar or derogatory term. An even more derogatory term is dog, but that's also used affectionately between therianthropes who are on good/familiar terms with each other.In our series we use the word "therianthrope" ("therian" for short) to refer to our shape shifters