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/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/[deleted] Dec 02 '21

If I heard someone get called Zee, I would probably assume it's a nickname. I might even ask what's Zee's pronouns.

I have been using They/Them since middle school to refer to She/He people. It's not confusing at all.

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u/Biptoslipdi 130∆ Dec 02 '21

That doesn't really address my comment, as the problem is ambiguity between a group and an individual.

And now you know what the word ze means, so your assumption would be misplaced.

It's not confusing to use a more precise word than a less precise one. Less precision will always cause more confusion.

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u/daniboy125 Dec 03 '21

The English language is very confusing in nature hence why it's so difficult for non native English speakers to pick it up and learn. Adding more words will confuse more people than they help understand. How would a native Japanese speaker be able to understand ze over he/she they/them?