Know your pronouns
Chartreuse Flamethrower (who sometimes comments here as Z2) has a really excellent post up about choosing your pronouns correctly. Here’s the crux of the issue:
Pronouns are a big deal for transgendered people. Calling a trans man (female to Male) ‘she’ is at best misinformed and at worst purposefully hurtful and can be a very painful thing. Calling a non-binary ‘he’ or ‘she’ is just as inaccurate, which brings up another problem- the English language isn’t equipped for gender neutrality.
They go on to discuss several options for more appropriate pronouns, and the pros and cons of each. It’s a very insightful and thorough post, while still being concise and understandable. The post title sums it up well in that it is both “an explanation and a request” (for respectful behavior), which is why I think it’s so important to pass this on to my readers — especially those of you who don’t usually encounter, and so probably don’t spend much time thinking about, gender identity issues. It’s definitely worth your time. What are you waiting for — read it!
A quick question
Why do we say “swearing” to refer both to saying bad words and to taking an oath? That seems really weird to me. Any thoughts on this, readers?
I remember being especially confused by this as a child because the explanation I heard from kids on the school bus, about why they’d say “h – e – double hockey sticks” or something, was that it was a sin to swear. We could never agree on which words were really “swear words” (of course that list grew and changed between kindergarten and fifth grade), and I could never get a straight answer from them about whether it was a sin to use one of those words or if it was a sin to say, “I swear!” Perhaps it was both? (And yes, I was this pedantic, as a six-year-old.)
Naturally, the FCC doesn’t make you bleep out oaths on TV. Making a solemn pledge is a generally honorable thing to do. And I’m not quite sure whether the Bible takes a position on swearing as a sin. In any case, “to swear” in the Bible generally refers to oaths … and yet I know a bunch of religious people who are very careful not to swear, in the bad-word sense. I guess that’s one more question, for any religious readers who feel inclined to chime in on this: how do you feel about swearing, in both senses, and why?
Cis and trans
I’ve read a couple posts by recursiveparadox lately (here: the first and the second) about the prefix/word “cis,” as in “cisgender,” meaning the opposite of “transgender.” Apparently there has been some sort of huge uproar—follow the many links in RP’s posts if you are interested—because some people think the word “cis” is a slur. It’s intended to refer only to the fact of not being trans, to help in a situation that would be awkward at best and unfairly normative at worst (since “normal” or “regular” are the words that come to mind if you are trying to name that side in a comparison).
I agree with RP when she says that, “It is not a weapon, it is a classifier, used for discourse only.” I cannot imagine why anyone would be offended by it… but my intention is not to rehash that argument or to take anyone to task. (RP does a more than adequate job.) My reason for posting is that, as a scientist, I am very excited about this term. It is awesome! It is brilliant!
I think I did hear “cisgender” once a few years ago but didn’t run into it again until I read this stuff, and I guess I didn’t see the connection before. In all the posts I read in my wild goose chase to understand this recent controversy, I only saw one passing reference to the origins of the term. I feel like explaining it might take some of the edge off the anger that folks are apparently feeling out there, so here goes.
This is trans-2-butene. The CH3 functional groups are on opposite sides of the double bond.
This is cis-2-butene. The CH3 functional groups are on the same side of the double bond.
(Images thanks to Wikipedia.) So… if your gender identity is opposite that of your birth sex, we say you are transgender. And then, if your gender identity is the same as your birth sex, what to call you? Cisgender, of course! Not an insult. Not even a value judgment. Just a clever borrowing of a simple fact from chemistry! (Science to the rescue!)
Of course, even this terminology still presents gender identity as a binary rather than a continuum; it’s not perfectly inclusive. I think we ought to be able to agree, however, that it’s a significant improvement over comparisons between “trans” people and “normal” people. Apparently, the word “cisgender” has been in use since the mid-1990s. I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on more since then.
Begging the question
Forgive me this trespass into linguistic geekery. I cannot contain myself.
I am all for breaking the rules of grammar and punctuation when it is useful. I split infinitives when doing so creates the emphasis I intend. I begin sentences with conjunctions sometimes, and I don’t mangle my sentences so as not to end on a preposition. I even type my IMs in all lower case because it’s faster (unless I’m talking to one of my old English teachers and I become self-conscious). Rules are nice guidelines, but we shouldn’t be sticklers. I favor precise and clear language over language that conforms to useless rules.
However, it’s because I favor clear language that I believe we should agree on meanings for words and use them accordingly. There is one error in this department that I see over and over again and which drives me crazy. Smart, well-educated, highly literate people make this error. That’s why I have to say something (even if none of those people will ever read this).
Don’t say “begging the question” when you mean “makes one wonder.” To beg the question is to answer a question in a circular way, referring back to the question itself, or assuming the conclusion as a premise. It’s a logical fallacy. Here’s a simple example: “What’s an insane asylum?” “It’s an asylum for the insane.” You see how that doesn’t really help at all? A more realistic example would be something like: “Why do you believe God exists?” “The Bible says so, and it’s infallible.” “But why do you think the Bible is infallible?” “Because the Bible is the word of God!” Speaker 2 here has just answered the question, “Why do you believe God exists?” basically by saying, “God exists.”
I’m not going to name names here, but I’ve seen/heard a lot of people saying things like, “Such and such policy is bad, and it really begs the question of why we elected so and so to take care of it in the first place,” or, “Here’s a really bizarre story, and it begs the question: when did society get to this point?” That is not what it means to beg the question. Stop it. Just say “makes one wonder” or “makes me wonder.” You can even say it “raises the question”—but it doesn’t “beg” it.
Thank you. Carry on.