9:38pm October 18, 2013

I’m tired of language debates

mosaicofminds:

madeofpatterns:

Not the kind that are about things like the r-word, that’s different.

The kind where all kinds of people have all kinds of preferences for all kinds of different reasons, and shout down the people who disagree, and then the result is that you can never talk about the thing without it turning into a language fight.

mosaicofminds saidL

OMG yes. Sometimes I wish we could step back from the politics for two seconds and realize we’re dealing not with abstract, nebulous groups but with *people*, with different experiences and different legit reasons for what they want to be called. Why can’t we respect the actual human beings we’re dealing with by calling them what they want to be called, calling ourselves what *we* want to be called, and STFU’ing about it.

madeofpatterns said:

Actually in some ways I kind of meant the opposite.

There are a *lot* of different language preferences, and people can’t actually simultaneously use them all expressively. And some people can’t change their language at will, even when the consensus position changes.

I think it’s important to be willing to look past which language choice someone is making, and pay more attention to what they are actually saying.

And not to make it devolve into a fight about language.

Sometimes word choice really is extremely important. But, not always, and not nearly as often as it inspires language fights.

I feel the same way. As posted many, many times before. I have a lot of trouble modifying my language and I know people who have even more trouble than I have. And I don’t like it when people pay more attention to what I SAY than what I DO.

(Also don’t like it when people pay attention to what I DON’T say. And assume I’m not saying it because of some horrible reason they’ve made up in their head. Rather than that I can only make language around a really small amount of things compared to what I know and am aware of and care about.)

Notes: