Pronouns, just stop it

[Birdsweepsin]

www.waterperryoperafestival.co.uk/2023festivalprogramme.html#carmen

Seriously? Waterperry you are an Opera company. Soprano, Mezzo, Countertenor... we don't need pronouns.

And yet making so much of the pronouns. I'm sorry, I know you're just Being Kind and all, but you have just lost me as a customer. Peter Rabbit and Revolting Rhymes are shows for small children! I so want to support stuff like this but the pronouns just flags 'utterly captured'.

I know how to decline a pronoun. We all know how to decline a pronoun.
Yep I don't mind thanks is how I decline and if really pushed Grand High Poobah

Ah ok, thanks for the explanation

They put English pronouns in their bios or email signature.

Even if they are Finnish or Chinese?

They put English pronouns in their bios or email signature.

This is actually true.

We can see an English echo of their pain in this anguished post from Reddit - how does an NB cope when everyone is "they"?

I think people sharing their pronouns need to realise that other people don't see it as a kind, inclusive act but as a political statement, pledging allegiance to a regressive and harmful woman hating ideology, and that they will be judged accordingly.

That is an absolute crock of bollocks.

No-one refers to themselves in the third person so this is all about demanding how other people refer to you. Apparently for some it’s not enough to be she/hers, they/them etc, they add an extra layer of demand. Attention-seeking twattery at its most indulgent.

It really is

So self absorbed

Then there is an image of a man with a speech bubble. The words in the bubble say, I was talking to her the other day. They told me...

The cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.

I went to a meeting the other day, over 50 people in the room. Two people ‘helpfully’ announced their pronouns (which were very obviously sex based). They sounded ridiculous. Everyone else completely ignored the issue. And this is a very woke profession. I gave a silent cheer for common sense 🤓.

OFGS they don’t own the use of they! They is for anyone.

I’ve just started a new job and when setting up my computer it asked for my pronouns which I left blank but others have just filled it in automatically and now the pronouns feature next to their email address and even on the log in screen on their computer! Given that the work we do is highly confidential, no one else needs to look at their log in screen. Do people really need a reminder of their own pronouns every time they log on??

Do people really need a reminder of their own pronouns every time they log on??

I suspect that the person who wrote that code and set it up to show the pronouns across the system gets an endorphin boost every time they go to log in and the screen affirms their chosen identity.

@stealthsquirrelnutkin exactly what I was going to say, except you put it better.

Apparently these allegedly immutable and non-questionable identities are so fragile they'll wither and die without constant affirmation from outside.

Alternatively they might need reminding if they've picked one of the more "out there" pronoun options.

It serves the same social function as honorifics like His Eminence, Her Royal Highness, His Grace and many more; to keep you on edge and remind you of the titled people's exalted status when you speak of them, even when they are not present to hear. These customs of demonstrating public deference effectively reinforce hierarchies. That's why we have such traditions. It is essentially neurolinguistic programming.

So we come to they/them. In my experience, it is possible, although difficult, for some people to learn to always use a plural pronoun for one particular known person. It is possible to master it to the point you can simply speak as normal without having to consciously monitor what you say, until it poses no additional cognitive burden. That's when people suddenly began specifying that they took mixed sets and that they wanted each set used an equal amount of time.

When you want people to feel as if they are walking on eggshells around you, and they have mastered using they/them, what new challenge can you pose? The answer is She/they and He/they.

This has to be a parody - surely?

It’s given me a good laugh anyway. The anguish of being misgendered.

I work in the arts - totally captured as PPs have said. I’m the only pronoun-free person at my work - somehow colleagues still manage to interact with me (tho I guess it’s when I’m not there that they struggle to know how to refer to me - probably as That Old Terf). I have a she/they colleague - she regularly tells us she’s non-binary, meanwhile everyone refers to her in the female but she gets to feel more special at the same time I guess 🤷‍♀️.

When you want people to feel as if they are walking on eggshells around you, and they have mastered using they/them, what new challenge can you pose? The answer is She/they and He/they.

Either walking on eggshells or just demanding even more of other people’s brain space.

“I need to ask someone to give this box to the person over there. Do I need to say “Can you give this to her, they’re over there”, or is it “Can you give this to them, she’s over there?” Mustn’t get it wrong otherwise I will have misgendered her. Shit, them. Which way round is it again?!”

The self absorption but utter lack of self awareness in that reddit post. It reads like a parody.

Tell me you don’t have enough work to do without telling me etc.

I really hope at least one of the responses to that diatribe was "I can strongly recommend getting a fucking grip".