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What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

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Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

OK, sure.

Best line in the piece:

the hairpiece is inspired by a character in "Pleasant Goat and the Big Bad Wolf", a widely popular and occasionally violent Chinese animated TV show.

which in turn leads to this story, which contains the line:

“Pleasant Goat and the Big Big Wolf,” which has licensing agreements with entertainment companies Imagi International Holdings Ltd. and Walt Disney Co. and has enjoyed immense popularity since it launched in 2005, came under scrutiny in May after two brothers in Jiangsu province severely burned themselves. The brothers said they were mimicking scenes they saw in the cartoon in which characters set one another on fire.

So, basically, somebody tried to perform a furry version of Itchy and Scratchy.
 
Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

It's nutty things like this that are one of the reasons why legitimate cases of offense cause half of America to froth at the mouth about "PC bullsh*t".

We do need a gender neutral pronoun, though. "His/her" is awful and alternating between male and female by paragraph is just confusing.

I am all for adopting they/them as gender neutral singular, because we already use it in ordinary spoken language.

But those other suggestions are bizarre -- I wonder what the source was? (edit: turns out it comes from gender/queer studies)

Here's a cool analysis.
 
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Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

We do need a gender neutral pronoun, though. His/her is awful and alternating between male and female by paragraph is just confusing.

I am all for adopting they/them as gender neutral singular, because we already use it in ordinary spoken language.

But those suggestions are laughable.

How about it?
 
Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

How about it?

Impersonal. I don't like it. (see what I did there?)

Apparently, people don't like "they" because of agreement in number (i.e., do you say "they is" when referring to a gender neutral singular?) I guess that's valid though the ordinary usage is simply to say "they are" even when referring to a singular gender neutral.

Other close languages (German, Pennsylvania Dutch, etc) may make some provision. It's very interesting that it's not built-in to existing language and says something about hidden gender assumptions (e.g., deviation from male "normalcy," etc).
 
Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

Impersonal. I don't like it. (see what I did there?)

Apparently, people don't like "they" because of agreement in number (i.e., do you say "they is" when referring to a gender neutral singular?) I guess that's valid though the ordinary usage is simply to say "they are" even when referring to a singular gender neutral.

Other close languages (German, Pennsylvania Dutch, etc) may make some provision. It's very interesting that it's not built-in to existing language and says something about hidden gender assumptions (e.g., deviation from male "normalcy," etc).

The reason I've seen people not liking "they" is because it is specifically the plural pronoun, despite "you" receiving both singular AND plural context, but that's another argument for another day. What about using "one"? If I've needed something gender neutral, but had to refer to a person, I've found myself using that.
 
Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

The reason I've seen people not liking "they" is because it is specifically the plural pronoun, despite "you" receiving both singular AND plural context, but that's another argument for another day. What about using "one"? If I've needed something gender neutral, but had to refer to a person, I've found myself using that.

I was thinking about "one," but it has problems because it functions in a different way than he or she. Compare "he walks down the street" to "one walks down the street." It's not just differently gendered, it's a whole different perspective. In the former you are watching somebody walk down the street, in the latter you are in the place of the person walking down the street. I don't remember what the formal grammatical difference is, but it's dramatic.
 
Re: What the Fark 2: That Was... Interesting.

I was thinking about "one," but it has problems because it functions in a different way than he or she. Compare "he walks down the street" to "one walks down the street." It's not just differently gendered, it's a whole different perspective. In the former you are watching somebody walk down the street, in the latter you are in the place of the person walking down the street. I don't remember what the formal grammatical difference is, but it's dramatic.

One can get one's self into trouble when one speaks of one's self in the third person.
 
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