“Beware this. Language maps poorly to reality and the mapping is getting a lot worse with the explosive growth in neologisms and enclave vocabulary.”
True. But enclave vocabulary (lovely term) tends to only work within those enclaves unless it’s validated.
Case in point, I don’t think anybody is confused what I mean when I use the word “women.” I’m referring to what the overwhelming majority of people mean when they say “woman.” I deliberately differentiate between women and trans women for this reason.
I don’t validate the enclave vocabulary simply by using language the way everybody already understands it. And the people pretending not to understand give themselves away by getting mad at me for not playing their game.
I adamantly do the same. I refuse to use he/she or (s)he or the singular they, defiantly continuing with the generic "he" and using "people" instead of "someone" so I don't have to pair the latter with "they."
I say "invitation" and "request" instead of using invite and ask as nouns. I still say "contact" instead of "reach out" ... you get the picture. Not all of these are enclave but they're part of the "warmth" defilement of the language that I refuse to go along with.
Since I do a lot of technical writing I dread that the time may come when an employer tells me to use "they" because I know what my answer will be.
The "woman" thing is a scent-mark like "Trump won." Well, I'm not a member of the pack.
“Beware this. Language maps poorly to reality and the mapping is getting a lot worse with the explosive growth in neologisms and enclave vocabulary.”
True. But enclave vocabulary (lovely term) tends to only work within those enclaves unless it’s validated.
Case in point, I don’t think anybody is confused what I mean when I use the word “women.” I’m referring to what the overwhelming majority of people mean when they say “woman.” I deliberately differentiate between women and trans women for this reason.
I don’t validate the enclave vocabulary simply by using language the way everybody already understands it. And the people pretending not to understand give themselves away by getting mad at me for not playing their game.
I adamantly do the same. I refuse to use he/she or (s)he or the singular they, defiantly continuing with the generic "he" and using "people" instead of "someone" so I don't have to pair the latter with "they."
I say "invitation" and "request" instead of using invite and ask as nouns. I still say "contact" instead of "reach out" ... you get the picture. Not all of these are enclave but they're part of the "warmth" defilement of the language that I refuse to go along with.
Since I do a lot of technical writing I dread that the time may come when an employer tells me to use "they" because I know what my answer will be.
The "woman" thing is a scent-mark like "Trump won." Well, I'm not a member of the pack.