hijacking this post to ask some passing linguist, why is it that any of the invented neopronouns that are socially acceptable and potentially gender neutral, like guy, dude, bro (maybe not that one), how come they’re all male-coded? is that cause it makes it go down easier, or do they just become associated with the boys over time?
I’m not a linguist, but I can answer partially. Women have their own: chick, dame, gurl come to mind. While dame is antiquated, I still occasionally hear “chick”, and “gurl” is used somewhat like “bro” in a close-friends-one-of-us kind of way
I suspect that, depending on how things progress, words will continue to become more gender neutral. Language is supposed to be fluid and the meaning of words rightly changes over time to reflect the society we live in
And if I had to guess as to why we have so many that are gendered, it would be for men/boys (of the past) to be able to identify whether the person in question is dateable and for women/girls (of the past) to be able to identify if the person in question could be a threat
Times are changing, though, and hopefully we can continue to go into a more inclusive/neutral direction. Back when I was a teen alot of this was unheard of. I didn’t even know trans people existed until my 20’s. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, but I’ve mostly caught up and try to use the appropriate language where applicable
i have a guess! it’s because they originate with guys saying them to other guys. just the way they feel and type of situations i see them in first. (also, don’t forget that every bit of language is invented, not just whatever is recent)
hijacking this post to ask some passing linguist, why is it that any of the invented neopronouns that are socially acceptable and potentially gender neutral, like guy, dude, bro (maybe not that one), how come they’re all male-coded? is that cause it makes it go down easier, or do they just become associated with the boys over time?
I’m not a linguist, but I can answer partially. Women have their own: chick, dame, gurl come to mind. While dame is antiquated, I still occasionally hear “chick”, and “gurl” is used somewhat like “bro” in a close-friends-one-of-us kind of way
I suspect that, depending on how things progress, words will continue to become more gender neutral. Language is supposed to be fluid and the meaning of words rightly changes over time to reflect the society we live in
And if I had to guess as to why we have so many that are gendered, it would be for men/boys (of the past) to be able to identify whether the person in question is dateable and for women/girls (of the past) to be able to identify if the person in question could be a threat
Times are changing, though, and hopefully we can continue to go into a more inclusive/neutral direction. Back when I was a teen alot of this was unheard of. I didn’t even know trans people existed until my 20’s. It took me a while to wrap my head around it, but I’ve mostly caught up and try to use the appropriate language where applicable
i have a guess! it’s because they originate with guys saying them to other guys. just the way they feel and type of situations i see them in first. (also, don’t forget that every bit of language is invented, not just whatever is recent)