mellowtigger (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mellowtigger) wrote2010-02-20 12:15 pm
mellowtigger) wrote2010-02-20 12:15 pm
Entry tags:
changing my mind
There has been some evidence in recent years that our language affects our thoughts. I want to be pro-active in this matter, so I've decided to make a stronger push in my life to include 3 specific changes.
metrics: As ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
philbutrin pointed out recently, the USA looks rather silly as a holdout on officially adopting the metric system. America has been in the process of converting since 1975. I remember attending classrooms where we talked about the new system and our conversion to it. I also remember 1982 when President Reagan defunded and closed the office that was supposed to be helping the nation make the conversion. We got stuck with liter Coke bottles but gallons of milk and gasoline.
I've been in the habit of posting temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. That practice ends now. I will post only in Celsius.
I have an easier time (because of the aforementioned school classes) thinking of small units of distance in terms of meters and centimeters. Harder, however, are long distances. It doesn't help that roadway signs are no longer posted in dual metrics. Thank you again, President Reagan. It will be difficult to figure out my vehicle mileage. I'll still call it "mileage" rather than "kilometerage".
history: Calendars, in addition to helping us predict future events, are supposed to help us relate current events to past ones. I've never been able fully to wrap my mind around our current year-counting system. Enough of that silliness. I've grown lax in adhering to my Recorded Human History timeline. I'll work harder at posting dates in this RHH format. Oversimplified, just add 4,000 to the current Gregorian year and you'll have your RHH date. Welcome to the year 6010! *cheer*
Signing/dating my checks will be confusing to me, since I'm guessing that banks would not appreciate or adopt the new and more sensible calendar. I'll have to convert to Gregorian years when I pay debts.
gender: I'm glad that English doesn't insist upon gender for every single noun. Pronouns, however, are an obvious holdout to older ways of thinking. I dislike "s/he" which is readable but unpronounceable. I dislike "they" as a neutral singular. I have not found a consistent usage among transgender folk yet, but I'm going to choose one now. I'm selecting a modified Xe vocabulary. This option probably feels more natural to me only because of prior exposure. This language was proposed by Jim Sinclair (genderless autistic human), and I spent a few years reading xer email communications.
The letter "X" is pronounced like the letter "Z", as in the familiar corporate name "Xerox".
metrics: As philbutrin pointed out recently, the USA looks rather silly as a holdout on officially adopting the metric system. America has been in the process of converting since 1975. I remember attending classrooms where we talked about the new system and our conversion to it. I also remember 1982 when President Reagan defunded and closed the office that was supposed to be helping the nation make the conversion. We got stuck with liter Coke bottles but gallons of milk and gasoline.I've been in the habit of posting temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. That practice ends now. I will post only in Celsius.I have an easier time (because of the aforementioned school classes) thinking of small units of distance in terms of meters and centimeters. Harder, however, are long distances. It doesn't help that roadway signs are no longer posted in dual metrics. Thank you again, President Reagan. It will be difficult to figure out my vehicle mileage. I'll still call it "mileage" rather than "kilometerage".
history: Calendars, in addition to helping us predict future events, are supposed to help us relate current events to past ones. I've never been able fully to wrap my mind around our current year-counting system. Enough of that silliness. I've grown lax in adhering to my Recorded Human History timeline. I'll work harder at posting dates in this RHH format. Oversimplified, just add 4,000 to the current Gregorian year and you'll have your RHH date. Welcome to the year 6010! *cheer*
Signing/dating my checks will be confusing to me, since I'm guessing that banks would not appreciate or adopt the new and more sensible calendar. I'll have to convert to Gregorian years when I pay debts.
gender: I'm glad that English doesn't insist upon gender for every single noun. Pronouns, however, are an obvious holdout to older ways of thinking. I dislike "s/he" which is readable but unpronounceable. I dislike "they" as a neutral singular. I have not found a consistent usage among transgender folk yet, but I'm going to choose one now. I'm selecting a modified Xe vocabulary. This option probably feels more natural to me only because of prior exposure. This language was proposed by Jim Sinclair (genderless autistic human), and I spent a few years reading xer email communications.
The letter "X" is pronounced like the letter "Z", as in the familiar corporate name "Xerox".
- xe (plural they); replaces he, she, and it
- xem (plural them); replaces him, her, and it
- xer (plural their); replaces his, her, and its
no subject
Of all the genderless pronoun sets I've looked at, ey/em/eir seems more "natural" to me, being derived from the plural pronouns. And because of that, I have an unsubstantiated feeling that if someone unaware of the concept ran across them... they'd be more understandable in context. I think someone unfamiliar with them would probably see them as an odd typo and get the intended meaning.
no subject
With Xe terminology, for instance, I found that I had a strong distaste for similar words differing in their vowel structure. I have a smaller distaste for the uncommon consonant pronunciation (/z/ instead of /ks/ for the letter X).
Intellectually, I like the Spivak pronouns. Instinctively, however, I encounter a large barrier. Something seems "wrong" with these words beginning with vowels. I know that English has perfectly usable and understandable words that begin with vowels. I look at the Spivak pronouns, however, and can't escape the impression that I'm examining syllables instead of whole words.
Pondering it now, however, I have an idea. A new Z terminology. Simply use the plural pronouns, but replace letter T with letter Z.
they -> zhey
them -> zhem
their -> zheir
The English is still perfectly pronounceable, the word-form similarity will ease transition, vowel usage remains consistent, and lead consonance is preserved. Even though the spellings are unfamiliar, they still "look like words", unlike the Spivak pronouns. That solution suits all of my gut instincts in the matter. :)
Actually, I'll consider this usage instead of the modified Xe terminology for my new resolution.
Removing the nearly-extraneous 'h' from the words can wait until the revamp of the English alphabet to improve phoneme-grapheme relationships. :)))