The Witching Well

It seems that the younger generation in Baltimore is organically creating something that a lot of people have been trying to shoehorn into the English language for a long time now: an epicene (gender-neutral) third-person singular pronoun.

Mark Liberman over at Language Log has written a fascinating post on it.

Of course, there’s the problem that “yo” and “you” might become confused, which makes me think that this probably won’t ultimately have any more staying power than “thon” or “co” or any of the others that people have tried to artificially inject into the language over the years.

But maybe I’m wrong. The “sie/hir” construction seems to be fairly popular in certain online circles (though I find “zie/zir” less likely to confuse and less evocative of the German feminine pronoun “sie”).

And, truly, in an age when you can have conversations with and about a person without ever knowing either their biological sex or their gender orientation, when we’re beginning to realize that intersexed people are far more common than many would like to admit, when the word “genderqueer” can become a useful term, you have to admit that sooner or later we’re going to have to change the language to handle our broadened perceptions and our technological advances.

Mood: thoughtful

Oh, my Gods. I couldn’t stop laughing.

I’m such a geek.

Mood: giggly

I got a Friend request over on my MySpace page recently from a group whose whole purpose is to be pedantic about grammar. They even have a cute t-shirt that says “I judge you when you use bad grammar.”

I turned them down.

It’s not that I don’t think grammar is important. I proof-read form letters and web pages as part of my job. When I do that, yes, I am in fact the biggest “grammar nazi” on campus. That’s because the language that we put out in those publications needs to be in an educated, formal register. That’s the face the university needs to present to the public.

And, yes, there are some things that pop up in informal speech that make my hair stand on end. Like saying “I could care less” when what you really mean is exactly the opposite. And there are alternate pronunciations of certain words (such as “nuke-yu-ler”) that make me cringe. The first is an idiom, the second a feature of cetain dialects. Knowing that doesn’t make either any less of a peeve for me.

But none of that means that I disapprove of TXT abbreviations, or slang, or sentence fragments, or the use of “they” as a singular pronoun outside of formal context. Text messages are different from dissertations. Talking to your friends is not the same as talking to a potential employer. Most of us switch gears and use the register and the dialect that’s appropriate to the situation at hand.

And, really, it’s just as rude to insist that people use the academic dialect of English all the time as it is to force them to wear a tuxedo to the county fair. Unless necessity dictates it, people should be allowed to use the language they feel most comfortable with. More than that: they should be allowed to play with it. Language is not just a communication tool, after all. It’s how we express ourselves.

Mood: bitchy
Music: the birds in the tree outside

I love weird, random resources. I love learning about obscure stuff that most people don’t care about, like the fact the the Polish girl’s name “Halina” is derived from the Russian/Bulgarian name “Galina” which is a feminine version of “Galenus.” You know, as in Galen, the famous 2nd century physician?

I got that from Behind the Name.

They also have a random name generator, which you can restrict by ethnicity or choose from such categories as “Goth” or “Fairy” or even (if you’re feeling really really silly) “Transformer.”

Mood: geeky
Music: Voltaire: Shalom

I’ve just added a new link to the sidebar: Separated by a Common Language. It’s a lovely little blog about the English language on both sides of the Atlantic, written by an American linguist living in Britain, which I discovered via the Language Log.

My husband and I heard about this on the radio on Friday morning, from Isaac-Davy Aronson, who was guest-hosting for Rachel Maddow on her show’s last morning-timeslot broadcast (she’s moving to evenings starting Monday). And, quite frankly, I think Aronson was decidedly condescending to those of us who find such things exciting. But despite the messenger’s annoying attitute, I found myself thrilled by the news. It’s not often a previously unknown writing system is discovered, after all.

Here’s the story from Kambiz Kamrani at Anthropology.net.

I kid you not: Eric Bakovic at the Language Log has posted some very amusing linguistics hip-hop.

If you’re interested in the current brouhaha over immigration into the US, or in the use of language in a political context, this article is a must-read. (It’s about framing, which may be an unfamiliar concept to some of you, so here’s the primer.)

Even if we could “protect” ourselves by sealing the border and preventing businesses from hiring undocumented immigrants by imposing hefty fines or prison sentences for violations, progressives should not be satisfied. This still leaves those yearning to flee their own countries in search of a better life in deplorable situations. The problem is not dealt with by making the United States a gated community.

Via Ozark, originally posted here, and also, with commentary, here.

Bwa ha ha! Look! A linguistic filk! Well, orthographical, anyway.