Monday, August 13, 2007: Focus

[Uzi4U]

They're pronouns, used to refer to people of unknown gender in the third person.

Xyr = his/her
Xe = he/she

I checked Wikipedia. Those pronouns are defined in one paper by some guy who I'm sure doesn't have the authority to change the English language.

Well, that's the interesting thing about the English language- it's a living language, and is open to an "informal" change.

[Fritz]

YOU ARE BOTH SUSPENDED

[Uzi4U]

YOU ARE BOTH SUSPENDED

Gonna buy us the suspenders?

[Æron]

How do you pronounce xe?

Otherwise, I like the idea of a gender neutral pronoun in the english language. It always did bother me when I had to use his/her or a plural like they where gender neutrality was required.

*integrates xe/xer/xyr into vocabulary*

[CodeCat]

Well, there was always 'it' for that purpose. I don't know what happened to it today...

[Gizensha]

Pronunciation wise - I believe the x is pronounced as in xeon, so xe is pronounced ze, xyr is pronounced so that it rhymes with her, (zer) [though I tend to pronounce it zier], xem is pronounced so that it rhymes with him (zim) [but I tend to pronounce it zem].

Would be able to say this with more confidence if I wasn't using a wikipedia history page, and if I could find something where these pronunciations are explicitly defined.

Well, there was always 'it' for that purpose. I don't know what happened to it today...

No, it is for inanimate objects. Referring to someone with the 'it' pronoun is just icky. "Each player should roll the die. The person with the highest roll should take its turn."

It's either sounds rude or overly clinical. Possibly both.

[Tom Flapwell]

Meanwhile, I've seen "zie" and "zur" used to refer to hermaphrodites. Note the difference in spelling but not pronunciation.

[Gizensha]

Meanwhile, I've seen "zie" and "zur" used to refer to hermaphrodites. Note the difference in spelling but not pronunciation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neu ... Neologisms

There are a whole host of options. Apparently, Jim Sinclair coined Xe due to being unhappy with the already existent GNP neologisms due to feeling that they were all biased either towards male (he derived) or female (she derived)

[Muninn]

I'll stick to he/she and his/her. All these xe things seems like an unnecessary excess of political correctness.

[nickspoon]

He/she and his/her are awkward in spoken conversation. On the other hand, nobody understands you if you use xym or xe, and it sounds rude. I tend to use the singular 'they', but it doesn't sound right in all contexts.

[Bocaj Claw]

Referring to someone with the 'it' pronoun is just icky. "Each player should roll the die. The person with the highest roll should take its turn."

It's either sounds rude or overly clinical. Possibly both.

It rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again.

[Gizensha]

He/she and his/her are awkward in spoken conversation. On the other hand, nobody understands you if you use xym or xe, and it sounds rude. I tend to use the singular 'they', but it doesn't sound right in all contexts.

They ask, you tell them, rinse and repeat often enough and it penetrates into those people. They rinse and repeat often enough and it penetrates into society as a whole. Then the dictionaries hear of it, add it to their pages.

Tis how English works when it comes to lingual expansion

[Dr. Doog]

yeah. look at Bootylicious now!