rooster59 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Singular 'they' is voted Word of the Decade by U.S. linguists By Barbara Goldberg FILE PHOTO: Women march during a protest as a part of the #MeToo movement on International Women's Day in Seoul, South Korea, March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo (Reuters) - U.S. linguists on Friday chose "they" as their Word of the Decade, recognising the growing use of third-person plural pronouns as a singular form to refer to people who identify their gender as neither entirely male nor entirely female. Separately, the American Dialect Society bestowed its Word of the Year honours on the increasingly common practice of introducing oneself in correspondence or socially by the set of pronouns one prefers to be called by - declaring in an email, for example, "pronouns: she/her." The two awards were decided by some 350 member of the society at its annual meeting of academics, graduate students and word lovers who voted by a show of hands, said Ben Zimmer, a linguist and lexicographer who chairs the group's New Words Committee. The most popular pick for Word of the Year was "(my) pronouns," a reflection of "how the personal expression of gender identity has become an increasing part of our shared discourse," the society said in a statement announcing the outcome. The same trend was behind the selection of "they" as the Word of the Decade, recognising its growing use to refer to a person whose gender identity is non-binary. The singular use of "they" was previously designated as the 2015 Word of the Year. "People want to choose something that stands the test of time and sums up the decade as a whole," said Zimmer, who writes a language column for the Wall Street Journal. Social media has turbo-charged the way words or phrases become popular, leading to some recent multi-word champions for Word of the Year, including "tender-age shelter" (a detention facility for young undocumented migrant children separated from their parents) in 2018 and "fake news" in 2017. Other decade nominees considered on Friday included: - "#BlackLivesMatter," the hashtag used to protest alleged disparities in police use of force against African Americans. - "Climate," reflecting increased interest in the impact of climate change. - "#MeToo," the movement that has highlighted widespread patterns of sexual abuse and harassment that women have faced at the hands of men across many spheres of life, including business, politics and entertainment. The society, founded in 1889 and dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, started selecting its "Word of the Year" in 1991 and since then has picked only two other "Word of the Decade" winners. Top choices were "web" for the 1990s and "Google" as a verb for the 2000s. Other "Word of the Year" nominations for 2019 included: - "OK Boomer," described as a retort to someone older, typically a member of the Baby Boom generation, who expresses views that are out-of-touch or condescending to young people and their concerns. - "Cancel," meaning to withdraw support from someone or something that is considered problematic or unacceptable, used in the phrase "cancel culture." - "Karen," the stereotype of a complaining, self-important, demanding white woman, typically a member of Generation X or "Generation Karen." (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by David Gregorio, Steve Gorman and Sandra Maler) -- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-04 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info 2 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thaiwrath Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 "Pathetic". 14 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post thasoss Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 yes indeed woksterism...emanating from the ivory towers of university professors with too much time on their hands,really sad. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JetsetBkk Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 They have linguists in America? 2 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rabas Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 With 7+ billion people all talking together via internet, it's exceedingly hard to find anything to distinguish oneselves. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 "They" be cray cray. While I like to think of myself as an advocate for LGBT civil rights, I'm afraid I'm gonna need to take the "OK boomer" exemption on this one. If I knew someone personally that insisted that I use they then I guess I would but really I'm not feeling this. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DoctorG Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 cunning linguists 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DoctorG Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 Seems they are discriminating against zim, zur, and the other 70 recognised pronouns. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salerno Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jingthing said: If I knew someone personally that insisted that I use they then I guess I would but really I'm not feeling this. Not a friend of Sam Smith then; that's where I first read this <deleted>: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49688123 Edited January 4, 2020 by Salerno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Holzerfilled Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 2 hours ago, JetsetBkk said: They have linguists in America? There are linguists in North, South and Central America. Seems though geography teachers were lacking where you were educated. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory1848 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 2 hours ago, thasoss said: yes indeed woksterism...emanating from the ivory towers of university professors with too much time on their hands,really sad. As a book editor, this is something I have to deal with on a pretty regular basis, and pronouns are taken seriously by many, but I wouldn't expect the topic to be of much interest to the crowd at this forum! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odysseus123 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 2 minutes ago, Cory1848 said: As a book editor, this is something I have to deal with on a pretty regular basis, and pronouns are taken seriously by many, but I wouldn't expect the topic to be of much interest to the crowd at this forum! Dude...what can they say? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TEFLKrabi Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 6 minutes ago, Cory1848 said: As a book editor, this is something I have to deal with on a pretty regular basis, and pronouns are taken seriously by many, but I wouldn't expect the topic to be of much interest to the crowd at this forum! Taken seriously by many, but the many are still few. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropicalevo Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 2 hours ago, JetsetBkk said: They have linguists in America? I think that they have cunning linguists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Salerno said: Not a friend of Sam Smith then; that's where I first read this <deleted>: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49688123 I'd be happy to be his friend but I think he should keep his shirt on in public. BTW I recently heard that this movement has spread to the Spanish speaking world so I assume other languages as well. I would use it to be polite. Edited January 4, 2020 by Jingthing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluespunk Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 3 hours ago, rooster59 said: OK Boomer," described as a retort to someone older, typically a member of the Baby Boom generation, who expresses views that are out-of-touch or condescending to young people and their concerns. Ah huh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calach Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Whatever our race, sexual preferences, nationality, etc, we've never been all so fundamentally similar, hence the creativity and obsession for all sorts of identities. Announcing your pronouns... how vain and self-important is that. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traubert Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Kind of argues with anatomy........or are they going to re-write that, too? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasoss Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 6 minutes ago, Traubert said: Kind of argues with anatomy........or are they going to re-write that, too? that's the idea....no more male/female,no more recognition of biological fact,what the feeling is between the ears is now the driving factor. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimmer Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 A troll post has been removed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory1848 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 1 hour ago, TEFLKrabi said: Taken seriously by many, but the many are still few. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, definitely a minority! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneMoreFarang Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 3 hours ago, rabas said: With 7+ billion people all talking together via internet, it's exceedingly hard to find anything to distinguish oneselves. Ourselves are able to do that now. ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OneMoreFarang Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 I guess that will make future official reports difficult. Like: They attacked us. And then we fought back. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven2 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Perhaps they should research when decades end and new ones begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
car720 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 4 hours ago, rooster59 said: - "OK Boomer," described as a retort to someone older, typically a member of the Baby Boom generation, who expresses views that are out-of-touch or condescending to young people and their concerns. Truly, when are we going to stop kissing the collective 'they'? If my kids ever say 'ok boomer' to me they will lose their inheritance. All 10 cents worth. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Krataiboy Posted January 4, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2020 They is a bunch of idiots. 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caldera Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) The first and only time I've encountered "they" used as described here is when watching the Netflix series, Billions. I'll be honest, I didn't realize it was a real thing in the real world. Edited January 4, 2020 by Caldera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salerno Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) It's not a "real thing" but sadly it is a "thing". The west is on a downward spiral IMO. Edited January 4, 2020 by Salerno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETERTHEEATER Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 8 hours ago, JetsetBkk said: They have linguists in America? We have may cunning linguists on TVF...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alien365 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I guess this is because 'they' don't want to referred to as 'it'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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