A Coincidence, I’m Sure
The chronically captious ladies and other-gendered beings at Everyday Feminism, where everyone is terribly complicated and fascinating, want us to know that people with narcissistic personality disorder are also victims of heteropatriachal capitalist society. And that not being overly keen on the company of pathologically narcissistic people, possibly because of their dishonesties, neediness and obnoxious sense of entitlement, is “ableist,” bigoted and therefore wicked. Apparently, we mustn’t “minimise the experience” of people who are very often unbearable, manipulative, exploitative, emotionally unstable, and indifferent to the wellbeing of anyone but themselves.
Sometimes comment is superfluous.
Either that or I wanted to use a singular pronoun.
According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, one of the senses of the pronoun he is “that one whose sex is unknown or immaterial.” The women who taught me English also taught me that.
The women who taught me English also taught me that.
Thank you Geezer. That’s what I was taught too. “She” refers only to women when referring to human beings (or gay men I suppose, but that’s one of those exceptions that prove the rule, and can generally be determined from context).
When the sex of a human being is not known or not specified, “he” is the correct, third-person, singular pronoun. Use of anything else in those circumstances generally signals PC/SJW efforts to unilaterally re-structure common usage to further a particular political narrative. Such has been my experience anyway, hence my irritation when I see the construction.
I should probably clarify the “gay men” part of the above. I’ve heard gay men refer to one another as “she”, though I honestly don’t know how common that usage is, and it was generally intended as at least somewhat snarky.
Obo and Proudman.
Star cross’d.
Like Ripley and the xenomorph.
considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are
This is the artsy flake in a nutshell: declaring love and intimacy one minute and bailing the next. I also used to see this behavior in hookers in Dubai in the mid ’00s.
“they” is perfectly acceptable for an unknown singular person, and has been used for hundreds of years* as such. Normally it is so natural that one doesn’t even notice it. It’s only rarely glaring examples that catch the eye.
A person can use he to refer another who may be female but shouldn’t be surprised if quite ordinary people think it makes them look like a dinosaur.
I just can’t see how that sentence above is improved by insisting the dinosaur is “him”.
(* It’s in the King James Version. So God said it, that settles it.)
Chester: Is that a common usage in the KJV? I would be grateful for an example or a reference.
Tim Newman: I’ve been trawling through your blog, found your experiences to be quite interesting.
Tim Newman: I’ve been trawling through your blog, found your experiences to be quite interesting.
I’m glad about that! For my part, I’ve found them fascinating…I only wish I’d hung in there longer to get an invitation to the community back in Brooklyn to see it all first hand. Also, I can only really tell half the story online…the stuff I’m leaving out makes people’s jaws drop open when I tell them in real life.
Tim Newman: Have you perchance commented elsewhere using the handles Timinkuwait or TiminKSA? I hope it is no breach of netiquette to ask this.
Also, I can only really tell half the story online…
Change names to protect the litigious. I think it very important that you share details with your internet friends. And also with us perfect strangers.
I think it very important that you share details with your internet friends. And also with us perfect strangers.
It does seem terribly mean to leave us all hanging.
Have you perchance commented elsewhere using the handles Timinkuwait or TiminKSA?
Nope, alas not me. I have usually gone with my full, real name and gotten myself in the shit as a result.
It does seem terribly mean to leave us all hanging.
I’m actually working on a format for telling the story…I’m gonna turn it into a short story, I think. The bottom line is I met somebody who I assumed was normal and one day she drops a great bombshell regading her sexual history on me which ought to be filed under “too much information”. Just as I’m getting my head around this, she drops another. This pattern repeats itself several times until I find myself – rather like the frog that has been boiled slowly – neck deep in a situation which I am completely ill-equipped to deal with. I’m left wondering just who the hell I’ve gotten involved with, and have to call in reinforcements from outside for assistance. I’ve actually posted much of the juicy stuff in the comments here, but put altogether the cascade effect of one revelation after another makes for a good story.
but put altogether the cascade effect of one revelation after another makes for a good story.
Just let me grab some more coffee…
A person can use he to refer another who may be female but shouldn’t be surprised if quite ordinary people think it makes them look like a dinosaur.
I’m old-fashioned enough to prefer English to Political Correctese. I take pride in being considered a “dinosaur” by “quite ordinary people.” (Who never learned the difference between grammatical gender and biological sex.