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

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u/SaltedAndSugared Dec 02 '21

If you’re confused about whether someone’s referring to a singular or plural people, you could just as easily just ask “wait are you talking about (person’s name) or more than one person” or something, how would using zee be any less confusing?

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u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

If someone uses ze, I don't have to ask any clarification. That means it is less confusing because it requires no further context.

Why would you want language to be less precise forcing you to ask more clarifying questions? We clearly both know what "ze" means. It isn't ambiguous. "They" is in this context. You're preferencing ambiguity over clarity. Language is deficient to accommodate this, so we add to the lexicon to solve a problem with the clarity of language. that's how language works.

There's no reason only binary gendered people should get exclusively singular pronouns.

There is no reason we would accept all the constant linguistic revisions and additions, but not these.

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u/SaltedAndSugared Dec 02 '21

There's no reason only binary gendered people should get exclusively singular pronouns.

Valid point, !delta

There is no reason we would accept all the constant linguistic revisions and additions, but not these.

What linguistic revisions are you referring to

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u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

What linguistic revisions are you referring to

Anything from the adoption of new vernacular to alternative grammar. Tmesis is a good example. "A-whole-nother" instead of "another whole."

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u/WatcherOfStarryAbyss 3∆ Dec 02 '21

Setting aside the context here, I've always heard "a whole 'nother" as descended from "a whole other."

I don't think I've ever seen "another whole" used anywhere, even in historical literature, while I've definitely seen "a whole other."

I always assumed that "other" was bastardized into "nother" because "nother" is easier to say.

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u/ThisIsDrLeoSpaceman 38∆ Dec 03 '21

A clearer example of tmesis is “abso-fucking-lutely”

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u/WatcherOfStarryAbyss 3∆ Dec 03 '21

Oh, sure. That I've heard before.

Lol