196 @lemmy.blahaj.zone 0x2d @lemmy.ml 8 mo. ago

rule

47 comments

These little guys can chew their way through a crab's shell. Don't put your fingers near the business end.
- Business in the front, party in the back?
  
  Hi, I'm Troy McClure!
- I now understand why they are affraid to misgender the fish.
It is a gender neutral pronoun.

Also when talking about people, it would be nice if they was a lot more normalized even in situations where the gender of the person is known.
- But “it” is for inanimate objects. “They” is a gender neutral pronoun for living creatures.
  
  But "it" is for inanimate objects
  
  Not quite. "It" is a general reference pronoun with a function akin to "the". It can be used to refer to anything that is a thing, even if said thing is animate and/or living.
  
  When referring indiscriminately to a specimen of fauna, "it" is a linguistically appropriate identifier whereas "they" would only really be entirely appropriate when referring to an individual or subset of individuals, regardless of species or animacy.
  
  Since this fish has no distinguishable identity apart from the cultural impact it may spawn, I reckon it's more appropriate to use "it" but "they" could also work.
  
  I am not a linguist. But if you are, feel free to correct me. If you feel like pretending to be a linguist, go talk to an LLM cause IDC.
  
  English is my second language but I learned that "it" was the pronoun used for inanimate objects and animals whose name/sex you don't know yet.
  
  except babies.
  
  I thought it was also used for animals? The dog is running = it is running, and so on?
- Also when talking about people, it would be nice if they was a lot more normalized even in situations where the gender of the person is known.
  
  Please!! As an enby person, I get so tired of reading "he/she." Just say "they!" It means the same thing while including people who don't identify as either.
- If who was a lot more normalized?
  
  Me
You can just use "they". That's what it's for.
are you not afraid to misgender a fish?
- Can fish be mentally ill? Cuz technically u can misgender plants too.
i always feel terrible when i misgender animals so yes
Can we also address that they wrote "is" instead of "are", implying they originally wrote "it" and then erased it?
- Are you not supposed to use "is" with "he/she/they"?
  
  I was high af when I wrote that, I honestly have no clue how I came to that conclusion lol
  
  Edit: actually I think what I was thinking was it doesn't work with "they"
Isnt this the carrot eating fish?
- I don’t think so. The carrot eating fish was a puffer fish.
  
  ah ye u right, different meme then maybe
"How dare you assume it's a fish?"
- "Fish" is racist anyway. Putting them all in the same boat like that. smh
- Its pronounced 'ghoti'

You've viewed 47 comments.