Like instead of he/she, the Finnish use hän.
This would mean no more insulting hes.
Then again, there's a reward for the transwoman to be called she, so there are pros and cons.
What are your thoughts?
Doesn't matter, I think someone who didn't wish to respect your pronouns would find some way to dig at you.
Then you wouldn't really know whether or not you pass.
I'm sure it's quite reassuring for a TG to be referred to by their preffered gender pronoun.
It would be a pain if you spoke japanese you'd have to learn to SPEAK and entirely different way. They have gendered ways of saying "I" Boku vs Watashi/Atashi aswell as gender specific ways that you extend common courtosey and gendered name suffixes.
Quote from: pebbles on January 22, 2012, 07:09:33 AM
It would be a pain if you spoke japanese you'd have to learn to SPEAK and entirely different way. They have gendered ways of saying "I" Boku vs Watashi/Atashi aswell as gender specific ways that you extend common courtosey.
And I was just about to say, how in the slavic languages the verbs and the pronouns are also gender specific(also in many roman languages - italian,french), unlike english. Guess the japanese went even further in that direction :laugh:
In general I find English to be much more gender unspecific, than many languages out there.
To introduce a new, non-gender pronoun into general English I suggest a number if factors are necessary.
Firstly, it must be distinctly English. Ze is good, but frankly, sounds too French. We need a decent pronoun which doesn't sound like it should be spoken by an amusing foreigner.
Second, it will need to be introduced by someone, respected by most people. Elton John springs to mind, but he's not quite enough. being so openly gay, such a word could quickly be the gay pronoun, (as Ms is usually associated with unusually masculine women) A US President would be good. (Think of that terrible term Brit, which was introduced by G Bush Sr, to placate the French).
But a good, very English word is needed to get it started.
I agree with the view that it's quite reassuring to know whether I pass by hearing she.
When I get "Maamed" even when I'm not trying to pass, it really makes my day.