To shriek from the rooftops that there is No Such Thing as “preferred pronouns”?

[Ddakji]

That’s it.

They don’t exist - any more than preferred adjectives, adverbs or nouns exist.

Even people who don’t like them still seem to think they exist.

Language is a shared, collective endeavour that belongs to all. It’s not a pick’n’mix for individuals to choose and change at will. For words not to be garbage they have clear definitions - in this case she for females, he for males, they (singular) for sex unknown.

Saying my preferred pronouns are she/her, even if that doesn’t fly in the face of reality, is no different to saying my preferred species is human, my preferred adjectives are sporty and lush.

It’s nonsense. Nothing to do with being kind or they don’t affect me, or I don’t mind if others do but I won’t. It’s nonsense.

Let’s make 2025 the year we kick this nonsense into touch.

I asked what that meant (while my DH was shaking his head and "shhhh-ing me".

Sounds like your husband is fed up of your behaviour. I go by someone’s ability or qualifications, I don’t use my own prejudices to get in the way of being professional. I’d think it’s a bit silly, but that’s it.

Goodness me. Well, that's certainly a lot of words you've shared there.

Hmm well you didn't specify common noun.

As an aside, I've brushed up on my primary 4 grammar today!

I agree with you OP. If we are empowering people to spout nonsense and then actively joining them (like putting pronouns in work emails...) we are just adding to fantasy.
It's very emperors clothes. We ALL have to join in or it does't work and the man is a frock (or naked like the emperor) looks silly.

Pointing out when what you're claiming is factually wrong is a "gotcha" now? Wow.

In other news, Miss, Ms and Mrs remain nouns that people prefer to use.

Yes, I agree with you. If you are a woman, you are a she. If you are a man, you are a he.
And that is it. Full stop.

An interesting point. However, I would argue that POC isn’t universally used, with people getting tangled up in BAME, BIPOC etc, so that evolution is still happening - evolution is usually a very slow process. It’s a good point, though, and one I hadn’t considered, so thank you for that.

But also, no one has ever decided that the concept (and it’s the concept that I object to) of adding someone’s “preferred ethnic or racial descriptor” to their email signature be a thing. I don’t think that would be a good thing, myself.

But while new words, phrases, acronyms come along and get absorbed (or not) into our language, we have male and female pronouns, so the idea or concept that you choose them is not true. There isn’t an alternative to “she”, with the same meaning, in the English language.

Do you object to preferred names too (eg Liz, Lizzie, Betty instead of Elizabeth) and insist on calling individuals by their full given names? How about titles? Are married and unmarried women alike ‘entitled’ to use Ms in your world, or do you insist on Miss or Mrs? Language evolves to describe an ever changing world: you don’t seem able to do the same!

I don’t think the op is ‘shrieking’. And there’s no compulsion for anyone to use preferred pronouns anyway.

These are proper nouns.

'Shrieking' is literally in the thread title...

They are proper nouns, titles that are attached to a proper noun. I’ve already covered this.

She didn’t need it.

No one has to use she / her or ‘preferred pronouns’. It’s up to the person speaking which pronoun they use.

I can't believe someone would actually dump a financial advisor because they have their pronouns on the bottom of their email 🙄

I am very happy to use people’s preferred pronouns, as long as they are words which exist as pronouns within the English language.

The only bit I object to is having to share my own pronouns in this way - which, so far, hasn’t happened anyway.

I think it’s an easy adaptation, if someone really wants it.

Yep, that’s a rational response. Nothing childish at all about ignoring someone’s qualifications and experience because of your own prejudices.

Husband sounds utterly fed up of it too!

Yep! Not surprising.

I disagree in that the word “she” has a clear meaning and so it’s not a choice or preference, any more than it’s a choice or preference to call a sheep a sheep rather than a pig.

If someone decide that pronouns are up for grabs then so is every single other word, and so language as a tool of communication will collapse.

It’s indicative that that person supports a sexist, homophobic, regressive ideology, so not unreasonable to decide not to work with such a person if you have a choice.

I get what you mean and I would go for sex based pronouns. In the absence of being able to comply people to do the same I can only make the decision over which pronouns I use.

You see it on here, a nonsense article with preferred pronouns and posts with correct sex pronouns about the same person. Gender ideology has made a mess of language and hopefully things will change. The SC ruling a first step.

Pronouns are just substitutions for proper nouns, so if you’re happy to address people/refer to them by their preferred names and titles, why not their preferred pronouns? It makes no sense. Trying to suggest there’s a logic to your reasoning by differentiating between pronouns, nouns and proper nouns doesn’t alter the fact that you object to this practice because - well, you just do. And that’s fine, as long as you’re not deliberately disrespectful to those that prefer to be addressed/referred to using gender neutral pronouns (I’m not one of them, btw. There are young people in my life who are, and I confess to struggling to remember sometimes, particularly when I knew them for years as girls; they’re quite tolerant of my slips and I’m quite tolerant of their preferences). As the youth say, ‘you do you, bro’ (actually, probably not ‘bro’ - too gendered!)

Of course they exist. People can have a preference of what pronouns people use to refer to them. They can request or even demand that those particular pronouns can be used for them, even. Of course they can do that.

Whether someone else grants that request or complies is a different matter. But an individual can certainly have preferred pronouns, and demand other people use them when referring to them. Just like I can prefer being called my full name instead of a shortened version, or prefer being called "darling" over "dear", and request cake whenever I like, or make demands for strangers to give me their money... As long as I don't do with a weapon or violence, I can demand other people treat me however I want to.

People will either comply because they like me and it's not big deal to them, or refuse and call me silly and a bully because they disagree with my preferences and demands.

Youre the one getting your own preferences confused with facts. You would prefer that people didn't even try to choose their pronouns, so youre jumping straight to that they cannot even try to do that and that it "doesn't exist" .

Well, they can try, and preferred pronouns do exist - because some people do prefer some pronouns over others to be used for them (whether they fit or not in other people's eyes) . You don't own language any more than they do, and they can have their preferences. Sorry I guess?

You're the one denying reality ITT op

Then you write Ms or Mr. People are laughing at the pronoun people.

You are participating in their delusions if you call a man "she". It's stupid and it gives them a "thrill". Don't do it.