In English we have the same word mean many things; consider sight and cite, to, too, and two for example. It is all complicated enough, but at least we don't have feminine and masculine verbs. In English he walks, she walks, we walk, they walk. The verb is the same regardless of the pronoun or article. This is not so in languages like French or Spanish. They have a different verb and article depending on the word being masculine or feminine. It is why most English speakers hate learning languages --the conjugating of verbs. Bah.
There is a movement underfoot where the Perpetually Aggrieved want to eliminate masculine and feminine pronouns. Instead of he or she they want to be called "ze" or "zir". I want to be "His royal bigness and arbiter of taste". I also demand you utter " Bippity Boppity Boo" at the end of every sentence when addressing me.
"Joe, Your Royal Highness and Arbiter of Taste, will you tell me more? Bippity Boppity, Boo".
Yes, that is just as silly as the whole made up pronoun thing. If Bruce Jenner wants to slap on a dress and be called she, well, OK. If Darla wants to wear a flannel shirt and be called Dave then so what? As far as i am concerned if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck. But i tell you here I will not refer to fellow humans by any old pronoun they care to make up. Ever. Sorry, I'm an old fart. I will not purposely change centuries of English grammar so that instead of 'she went to the store' we write 'them went to the store'.
I bet crazed Social Justice Warriors are going nuts over the masculine and feminine verbs in the Romance Languages or is the silliness confined to our college campii?
In any case it is just dumb and I will not play along. Bippity, Boppity, Boo.
Well said.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly on topic.
ReplyDeleteThe below statement came for a Face Book female from California. She is currently enrolled in college with a major in “ Womens Studies”. This is our future.
;”the civil war was about whether a slave had a constitutional right to life or not. Kinda like the abortion argument.”
James Old Guy
Wow. There is so much ignorance demonstrated in that one sentence
ReplyDelete"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
ReplyDelete-- James Nicoll