So... if I drink from a mug with a dinosaur on it at work, or have a dinosaur emoji on my status etc etc

Great T Rex posts Purgatory.

I'll be very disappointed if dinosaurs become a symbol of anyone's personal views. I like dinosaurs but don't share your views and would hate for anyone to assume I do just because I have a dinosaur bag.

Oh dear. I guess you'll have to get over that or get another bag.

Design idea:

A purple dinosaur in witches hat. Witches hat can be in red blue green or yellow, depending on if you are in hufflepuff, slytherin, gryffyndor or ravenclaw.

I would like it on a tee shirt. Dinosaur can be talking to Father Ted and a speech bubble coming from its mouth saying 'no thank you!'

RainbowCrossing

Just don't wear your bag. It's not like you have to wear your bag is it? Whereas our identities as 'people who wear dinosaur items' are really vital to our sense of wellbeing and MH.

I can't believe someone wouldn't do something as simple as leave their Brontosaurus shopper at home in order to make sure that a vulnerable minority can be their authentic selves. Educate yourself.

Also magnificent.

I have just bought a dinosaur mug. Thanks for the idea, witches!

Thanks Rainbow. I've just snorted my tea because of that.😂

I can't believe someone wouldn't do something as simple as leave their Brontosaurus shopper at home in order to make sure that a vulnerable minority can be their authentic selves. Educate yourself.

Hmmm. DD has some Dino jeans. May have to get some myself.

Also better give her a heads up if she's wearing them around uni!

Yes. I am. Get over it.

Well, I like rainbows and dyeing my hair blue and purple, and now some people think I must believe that humans can change sex with feelz thanks to “trans rights” activism co-opting of these things. So, you just have to deal with the fact women are running with the dinosaur thing and just you do you.

I may have ordered some dinosaur jewellery and face masks to wear to FiLiA next week

Does it hurt when people take things off you and change the meaning of things ?

I'll be very disappointed if dinosaurs become a symbol of anyone's personal views. I like dinosaurs but don't share your views and would hate for anyone to assume I do just because I have a dinosaur bag.

I've just ordered this:

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/536067316/dinosaur-bracelet-dinosaur-bangle?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=dinosaur+jewellery&ref=sr_gallery-2-40

Is there a more neutral Latin word than Rex

As, I said, I think it is neutral. At least as neutral as "actor".

It comes across as male because (a) English speakers associate it with their male-only word "king", and also use "regina" for "queen". Our use of Latin mirrors our language, and (b) most "reges" in history were male.

Another word for "ruler" is "tyrannus", but we just used that, so it would get a bit silly :)

I’ve ordered this arriving Monday to the office where I will performatively open it.

Is there a more neutral Latin word than Rex? Eg an equivalent to ‘monarch’, or is it just that English has gendered some words and not others and Latin doesn’t line up?

Aw, the only Latin names for animals I know are Accelleratii incredibus and Overconfidentii vulgaris.

Afaik, no set convention about calling the females regina can develop, because at the time of typing, only one female tyrannosaur has ever been found in good enough condition to confirm her sex. I think we would need lots of known females to see that linguistic change happen.

Not even the way it works anyway, afaik. Gender is not sex, as we're so fond of saying. An animal's name (or a human individual's occupation) can be masculine or feminine, independent of their sex. Both in actual Latin, and biological nomenclature.

Rex/regina is a bit different than just gender though, in that they're a sexed pair. Sort of.

"Rex" is not necessarily "king", it can be "ruler". Whereas "regina" is specifically "queen".

It usually gets translated as "king", idiomatically, so "Herodes rex" -> "King Herod", but to always do so is a kind of sexist assumption.

I sense these sort of things are a bit unstable in male-dominated areas. When there's only one word, there's an urge to make a "female" form with a suffix, to escape the male-default assumption. When there's a pair of such words, there's grumbling and an attempt to recombine them to prove equality. And the pendulum swings. Like "actor/actress"; and I think "rex/regina" is similar, and unlike "king/queen".

I've bought a Tea Rex badge, and got a msg from the seller asking if there was a particular reason, as they were selling so many all of a sudden! (I'm afraid I wimped out of answering , as Etsy is in my actual name...) I'll be looking out for all you dinos !

Though if it does catch on and if it is associated with bigotry, then the sooner the better