this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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I like the idea of inventing new pronouns, but most of the suggestions so far (like "Xe") are too silly to be taken seriously. "They/them" can come off as impersonal at times, but we seem to be more or less settling on that, so whatever.
I’m in the too silly to be taken seriously boat. They/them works perfectly fine.
every new word sounds silly at first, that's why every generation makes fun of the kids' slang. hell, remember when "yeet" was new? it sounded so silly and stupid, but it's just another part of the lexicon now.
Yeet is still silly, and spread because it's silly. That's not what we want for replacement pronouns.
my point still stands, the more a word is in use the less "silly" it sounds. if you shoot everything down as sounding "too silly" then nothing will ever rise to that bar and become "acceptable" enough to use. you're basically going "i think neopronouns are silly and we shouldn't use them" with extra steps.
Neologims get added all the time. Being silly tends to help them spread, but it's not a requirement.