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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Are these pronouns real?

110 replies

RachelGreensHair · 07/09/2023 20:03

Applying for a new job and this literally was the second question after asking my name...I can't figure out if they're being real - they even have a box to enter your own "custom pronoun" what can I write in there and be unique?

Are these pronouns real?
OP posts:
LarkLane · 08/09/2023 11:15

Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy, and Sneezy

Hi/Ho

EBearhug · 08/09/2023 10:07

See, pronouns are actually really interesting*, if you keep it to a linguistic discussion...

*I have met those who disagree. They don't want to talk about stuff like the subjunctive, either...

CorruptedCauldron · 08/09/2023 09:55

viques · 08/09/2023 09:46

I think I would go for NA and NA. Then if it caught on you could hopefully have a situation where all the NA identifiers met up one day so there was a tuneful assembly.

NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA
NA NA NA NA

Maybe get some colleagues to identify as Hey/Hey too!

Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey hey
Goodbye

OnBoardTheHeartOfGold · 08/09/2023 09:50

This is just something else! I don't know how it could work in real life. I sometimes work in another language and there's no way I could translate all that.

user123212 · 08/09/2023 09:47

hmm i will have 佢 (pronounced keoi - there is no he/she in Cantonese). you will have to write it like that too or i will be greatly offended. hell, you'll also have to speak to me in fluent Cantonese too.

viques · 08/09/2023 09:46

CorruptedCauldron · 07/09/2023 20:16

In the custom box I’d write N/A.

I think I would go for NA and NA. Then if it caught on you could hopefully have a situation where all the NA identifiers met up one day so there was a tuneful assembly.

NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA
NA NA NA NA

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 08/09/2023 09:45

EBearhug · 08/09/2023 02:35

"Well, it depends which language I'm speaking. In English, I use I, me, my, mine, myself but in Welsh, it's i, fy (plus if it'spossessuive, you've got the confusion of the noun it refers to mutating.) French is je, me, mon, ma, mes, moi. German is ich, mich, mein, meiner, meinem, meines, meine, Spanish is yo, mi, mis. Dutch is ik, mij, don't known much Dutch to be fair, and I've probably forgotten a load without grammar books to hand to remind me. Oh, I can probably remember some Latin, too... ego, me, mihi, meus, meum, mea, mei. It's interesting seeing the etymological links through all those different languages, isn't it, the similar patterns and so on. I've only ever learnt European languages, though - I don't know if they work the same way in Arabic or Japanese or Mandarin or Swahili or something, if thry even have the same concept of pronouns. Oh, your form has run out of space..."

Wonderful!

Should you wish you expand it:

In Finnish, Minä - but it depends where you are in the country and how arrogant you are. Mä, mää or mie may be more appropriate. But it's often just left out anyway. (Third-persion pronouns are non-gendered).

Arabic, Ana is both I and me. (For an extra level of difficulty, both second and third person pronouns come in gendered forms: you, anta [m], anti [f]; he, yaktub; she, taktub.) But like in Finnish, the pronoun is often just left out.

Hebrew, for a man ani (I)/zeh (me); for a woman ani/zot; then there's ten (meaning 'to me' and said to a man/woman, regardless of your own sex), tni to a woman. (Second and third person are also both gendered.)

Japanese: watashi wa/ watashi o. (Only third person is gendered, but there's also a sort of gender-type set of words for counting things which is astoundingly complicated and utterly fascinating.)

You should definitely have run out of free text space by the time you've got all that in. If not, you can explain your preferred Japanese counting words. Mine are: mei-sama (people-count honored-ones) at work, bu (copies of a newspaper) in social situations, and
cho (long narrow things) when trying on new outfits. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word

ChaToilLeam · 08/09/2023 09:41

Hu/hu? Does this person identify as an owl? 🦉Owls are supposed to be wise, so I don’t believe it for a second.

AIstolemylunch · 08/09/2023 09:40

EdithStourton · 08/09/2023 01:14

Eff/orf
It's all so sodding tiresome.

I did note when dropping DD at uni that some of the older students helping had pronoun badges. They were all obviously female and they all said she/her as if it wasn't glaringly obvious.

The blokes didn't bother.

This is the same where I work after a pronoun push by the one global trans individual. Apart from him everyone that has added pronouns is a she/her woman or a he/him man. What is the bloody point!

ImGoingThroughChanges · 08/09/2023 09:39

Do you need a huhu to be a huhu? 🤔

AIstolemylunch · 08/09/2023 09:35

I have come to the conclusion that the best response to this period of mental illness in public life is to respond she/her, of he/him in accordance with biological sex, and reality. Eventually the data and the stats will stack up and the idiots writing this tosh will be forced to SEE that 98.9% of respondents know what a woman is, know they are male or female and that there is only a very small minority of people with mental health issues who actually believe they have changed sex. And then hopefully everyome will stop pandering to them and they can get actual help with their actual issues.

Ginmonkeyagain · 08/09/2023 09:29

I would apply and ask at interview if they had had considered if the use and encouragement of neo pronouns in the workplace could be discrimantory to employees and customers/service users with English as an additional language or with low levels of English literacy.

Then sit back and watch them squirm.

JaukiVexnoydi · 08/09/2023 09:19

Do not apply for this job.

They are being discriminatory by assuming that all applicants share an unscientific belief in gender ideology. They have structured a question in such a way that a woman with no "sense of gender" who is just getting on with life existing in a female body, has to claim a feminine gender identity to even apply for the job. What a horrible place to work.

Waitwhat23 · 08/09/2023 09:13

SirChenjins · 08/09/2023 06:23

Hee Haw also means ‘nothing’ in Scots - as in, ‘I got hee haw for my birthday’. That would work very well here!

I’d go with N/A although I’d be tempted to put some ridiculous response as befits the question.

I'm definitely going to use Hee/Haw if this ever comes up.

Waitwhat23 · 08/09/2023 09:12

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 07/09/2023 20:38

Oh, that's disappointing. I thought it might be for owl gender and be a resonant hoot.

Or for people who are big fans of

'Resonant hoot' made me both laugh and do a wee owl call to try it out. Anyone passing will think I've got a very odd cough.

determinedtomakethiswork · 08/09/2023 08:57

I would have such fun with that. There's no way I would pick she/her out of that list.

Zimunya · 08/09/2023 08:53

What a wonderful thread! OP, I do realise that is is a serious subject, but the witty posters on here have brought me so much laughter with their clever suggestions. Great start to the day - thank you!

molotovcupcakes · 08/09/2023 08:50

There must be only one or two people in the country that uses Hu/Hur pronouns and yet they have put it down as an option, What’s the point?

tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz · 08/09/2023 08:49

Star and Starself... Jesus Fucking Christ 🤯

//

Although I rather like Jesus/Fucking/Christ

whenindoubtgotothelibrary · 08/09/2023 08:46

That must be a fun place to work…

Siwggy · 08/09/2023 08:45

The world has gone bloody mad! Confused

Faffertea · 08/09/2023 08:41

Surely anything other than standard English language pronouns should just be me/me.

Random789 · 08/09/2023 08:05

Wish you would out the employer, so that I can never ever buy from them (if they are a company) or curl up in a ball and cry (if they are a public body).

Winnading · 08/09/2023 07:26

EBearhug · 08/09/2023 02:35

"Well, it depends which language I'm speaking. In English, I use I, me, my, mine, myself but in Welsh, it's i, fy (plus if it'spossessuive, you've got the confusion of the noun it refers to mutating.) French is je, me, mon, ma, mes, moi. German is ich, mich, mein, meiner, meinem, meines, meine, Spanish is yo, mi, mis. Dutch is ik, mij, don't known much Dutch to be fair, and I've probably forgotten a load without grammar books to hand to remind me. Oh, I can probably remember some Latin, too... ego, me, mihi, meus, meum, mea, mei. It's interesting seeing the etymological links through all those different languages, isn't it, the similar patterns and so on. I've only ever learnt European languages, though - I don't know if they work the same way in Arabic or Japanese or Mandarin or Swahili or something, if thry even have the same concept of pronouns. Oh, your form has run out of space..."

It's not come up in my workplace yet, but I'm so using this if it does.

TheDogsMother · 08/09/2023 07:25

Another reminder of why I'm better off self employed