My distaste for improper English

@david lyga,

Rule #1 of Able2know. You do not have to eespond, ever!

Izzy goes around insulting people. He is part of the landscape here. Often the best way to deal with this is to simply not respond.

Make your points and defend them. There are Izzies around who feel the need to insult anyone who expresses an opinion they don't like. Who cares?

Izzy's gonna Izzy.

1 Reply

@jespah,

jespah wrote:

I write for a living and I don't care.

This is prescriptivist at best. At worst, pedantic.

Writing and speech are communications. They need to be understood. Native English speakers understand the singular use of the 3rd person plural pronoun they.

Language is fluid, it evolves over time. As long as people write or speak in ways that communicates their thoughts, they are successful. If poor grammar or word choice impedes understanding, it is a problem. As Jespah points out, the examples you point out don't interfere with understanding. Spending time on correcting them instead of responding to the thought behind them is not useful.

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I have no problem using the proper pronouns. If someone asks me to refer to them as "he/him" even though they were born biologically female, no problem. This is proper, grammatically correct, and insisting on using the incorrect pronouns is asinine.

The invention of "non-binary" pronouns is a different thing altogether.

When you ask me to use a plural pronoun for a singular person, you are hurting the expressive ability of the English language. There is a difference between "Can she can over to play?" and "Can they come over to play?"

My daughter explains to me that I am still being "transphobic" because someone needs to "transition" to being non-binary. I don't buy it... it isn't the same thing as rejecting someones true gender (at least not to me).

Maybe we need a word for "non-binary-phobic".

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We can solve this problem in English easily by getting rid of feminine pronouns. They never served much purpose anyway.

If everyone is "he/him"... then there is no problem. And the singular/plural distinction (which is linguistically useful) is preserved.

The pronoun "he" used to be gender-neutral in English. It referred to any human being. We can just go back to that definition.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

My daughter explains to me that I am still being "transphobic" because someone needs to "transition" to being non-binary. I don't buy it...

Bigots don’t. You remind me of a post engineer just made on McGentrix’s thread about ending qualified immunity. In the post a number of police are caught on tape using racist language and looking forward to a race war.

When they heard the recording they accepted it was them talking, but denied being racist.

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@izzythepush,

Hi Izzy.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Rule #1 of Able2know. You do not have to eespond, ever

You do though Max, you just can’t help yourself as is evidenced by your pointless back and forth with Palandre.

You have to respond even if it’s just to say something inane like hi because you can’t think of anything else.

I don’t go round insulting everyone, just liars, bigots, pseuds and right wing extremists.

I’m very nice to normal people.

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@david lyga,

As you see, Izzy is all bluster. I play with him sometimes, at other times I just brush him off and make my point.

You don't have to take him seriously.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

I’m very nice to normal people.

Hmmmm.... this is an interesting phrase. It is an insight into Izzy's psychology.

Izzy is defining the term "normal people" as people to whom they is nice. Presumably this means that it is OK to abuse anyone who is not normal.

This really explains how things work around here. The normal people are here to beat up on people who don't fit in.

For those of us who are not normal, it is best to not take it personally. Either play with it, or ignore it. It is part of the landscape.

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@maxdancona,

Like I said, you just can’t help yourself.

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@maxdancona,

No, I’m saying bigots, racists, pseuds and liars aren’t.

English language too complex?

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@izzythepush,

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@maxdancona,

That’s your other response, inanity and flesh creeping.

Sure beats thinking.

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

He started a thread about being old, white and friendless. Maybe he should join the KKK.

Reading these comments, I can't believe how vile this Izzy person/thing is.

In a different thread it barked vile insults at me that were completely uncalled for and completely unprovoked.

I'm quite glad that david lyga has come here, because he's clearly one of the more intelligent posters here. I don't think it's right to make him feel unwelcome.

How is it that this Izzy person/thing is allowed to post such nastiness here without being reprimanded?

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Here is the point.

Izzy belongs here. He has every right to his opinions. He seems to like insulting people he sees as inferior to himself... but that is Ok. He is part of able2know, and truthfully I am glad he is here.

Same with Lyga and Meaningless . You all add to the fun of able2know. Sometimes I complain, and I do wish there was a little more substance and a fewer insults.

There isn't a person here I would want to be banned.

The truth is that I agree with Izzy more often than not.... This is a fact that pisses Izzy off (and of course he denies it) and that makes me chuckle.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Here is the point.

Izzy belongs here. He has every right to his opinions. He seems to like insulting people he sees as inferior to himself... but that is Ok. He is part of able2know, and truthfully I am glad he is here.

Same with Lyga and Meaningless . You all add to the fun of able2know. Sometimes I complain, and I do wish there was a little more substance and a fewer insults.

There isn't a person here I would want to be banned.

The truth is that I agree with Izzy more often than not.... This is a fact that pisses Izzy off (and of course he denies it) and that makes me chuckle.

A -6 for saying Izzy belongs here and shouldn't be banned ?! That's cold.

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@maxdancona,

Quote:

He seems to like insulting people he sees as inferior to himself

Viewing others as 'inferior' to himself/itself is enough of an indicator the type of person/thing we're dealing with.

But in addition to that, it isn't in a position where it should be looking down on anyone else.

Typical pompous ass behavior.

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@lifeismeaningless,

You seem a lot like Izzy in way, Meaningless.

You also insult people you see as inferior to yourself. Have you read your own posts?

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@maxdancona,

Quote:

You also insult people you see as inferior to yourself.

Who have I insulted?

Quote:

You seem a lot like Izzy

Now that's an insult.

1 Reply

@lifeismeaningless,

lifeismeaningless wrote:

Quote:
You seem a lot like Izzy

Now that's an insult.

Izzy will get over it.

1 Reply

My distaste for improper English

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