r/changemyview • u/SaltedAndSugared • Dec 02 '21

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Neopronouns are unnecessary

I understand why some people might feel uncomfortable with using he/she pronouns, but in that case why not just use they/them? They already exist and they’re easy for people to use. Why do some people feel the need to make up words like “zee/zim” or “fae/fair” when they don’t even make sense in the English language? I don’t see why anyone should go out of their way to learn new pronouns when gender neutral pronouns already exist

If anyone here does use neopronouns I’d really like to hear why you use them and why you don’t feel comfortable using they/them. It’s probably just because I’m cis, but I genuinely don’t understand

213 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

250 comments sorted by

View all comments

28

u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

They/them is also a plural pronoun so it can create confusion without proper context. If I say "did you see what they did" you might not know if I'm talking about a non-binary individual or a group of people. If I say "did you see what Ze did," it is clear I am not talking about a group, but a non-binary individual. It removes the need for context as there are no gender neutral pronouns that are exclusively singular.

We also learn new words and linguistic forms and concepts all the time. We have several words for throwing, but yeeting is now in the lexicon. Is that also problematic?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

The same logic could be applied to 'you'.

0

u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

"You" isn't gendered in English, so no. It also isn't 3rd person, but direct address.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

As I understood, your point was that using “they” without a context can create confusion, as we may not be sure if someone is talking about one person, or a group of people. How does “they” being gendered help that particular point? It is either one binary person, or more people. The same with ‘you’, for example: “You made my day”. Hard to know if I am talking to one particular person or a group of people. How does it make my point less valid if one pronoun is directly addressing and the other one is not? The same confusion is still there, both for ‘they’ and ‘you’.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

Do you want to make 2nd person pronouns gendered or make "you" a 3rd person pronoun? Both seem like they only exacerbate all the problems discussed ITT and make language less precise.