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From the New York Times news section:
When ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ Miss the Mark: Restaurants Rethink Gender’s Role in Service
A dinner out can be discomforting for nonbinary and transgender people. But efforts are afoot to change that.
By Rax Will
March 28, 2022LOS ANGELES — As Anaelia Ovalle stood outside a restaurant here deciding whether to go in, the host extended a friendly greeting: “Hello, sir.” But the phrase didn’t feel all that welcoming to Ovalle, 27, who identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them.”
Ovalle has an androgynous appearance. And as they asked for a menu, they could see the wheels turning in the host’s head, registering the pitch of their voice and noticing details like their eyeliner and painted nails. The host quickly retreated, calling them “ma’am.”
“It’s just funny that they resort to flipping it,” said Ovalle, a machine-learning researcher.
There’s nothing more heartwarming than seeing yet another disagreeable 145 IQ on-the-spectrum with Complicated Needs individual using the now dominant transgender ideology to bully waiters and waitresses and to feel self-righteous in stiffing them on the tip.
Oh, wait, this person is a grad student focusing on “ethical ML,” so knock that IQ estimate down about 20 points:
Anaelia Ovalle (they/she) is a computer science doctoral student at UCLA. They are currently obsessing over the intersections of representation learning and algorithmic fairness. Elia is conscious of context-sensitive impacts and implications upon deployment, with particular interests in improving health equity and empowering historically marginalized populations. Able to see the big picture, they have hands-on experience as a data scientist leading teams to build end-to-end machine learning solutions for internal and external stakeholders.
They lead the UCLA Graduate Women in Computer Science organization, passionate about supporting womxn engineers in their industrial and academic endeavors.
Interests
Algorithmic Fairness
Representation Learning
Multimodal Machine Learning
Affective Computing
“Ethical ML” is a focus for people smart enough to get into grad school but not to get out.
New York Times commenters are unenthusiastic. Here are the top 3 most popular comments:
kie
Orange County N.Y.
April 3I’m all for you being you.
However, as a server for a long time, I’m just not interested in your non binary life. A 100 things are in my mind (Extra ranch table 6, get bill table 5, prebus the screaming kids in table 3)..so if I get your pronoun wrong. its because we are not friends and I am working. I am not here to validate your life choices.
Hi, drinks, order, bill, next.
Sorry, you just the next person in a long line.
21 Replies 1128 Recommended
thewriterstuff
Planet Earth
March 28“You bringing up the question even now makes me think this is something we could certainly surface to the product team.”
This is a perfect example of tortured corporate speak drowning out English. Instead of making the whole world gnarl a language into tortured knots trying to keep from offending every single person, how about those inflicted individuals grow a little spine and not be offended by stuff that doesn’t matter. I’m an older person, I’m regularly asked if I’m a senior….I don’t feel like a senior, I feel like I’m 22, but I apparently look like a senior….should I be offended? Maybe, but I’m glad to be reminded of the discount. Everyone is just too sensitive and ridiculous in my opinion. People who use ma’am and sir are being polite and there’s too little of that around lately.
11 Replies 706 Recommend
Adam
USA
April 3If someone is not identifiable as a male or female, that’s their problem, not a problem for the other 99.9% of human beings to be held accountable for. Every functional convention cannot be abandoned in a vain attempt to accommodate absolutely every person in the world. Society would cease to function without minimal conventions. This current fad to make sure group behavior accommodates every single human being’s personal circumstances is mathematically unworkable and irrational. I have a friend who can’t use normal, round doorknobs. The solution is for him to carry around a device that gives him leverage on doorknobs—not for everyone else on the planet to add levers to their doorknobs in case he visits. Outliers need to accept their status as outliers, and quit guilt-tripping the world into ridiculousness.
596 Recommend
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Amazing those comments have been allowed to stand. What bigots questioning the sanctity of our reigning insanity.
Is this one over yet? It doesn't seem to be but the various madnesses of crowds are driven by numerous powerful currents under the surface and you never know if it's over until it is.Replies: @Dennis Dale
But--said it before and i'll say it again--unless this issue is used as lever to discredit the entire "minorities first" ideology--the majority must bend and accommodate the minority--even a flat out victory on the whole extra-weird sexual minorities (trannies, "non-binary", etc.) issue will be pointless.
The problem in the West is simply minoritarianism. This idea that majorities must accommodate minorities, rather than the reverse. That being a minority gives you some sort of special status and privilege. That a nation does not belong to its core people--the productive normies who follow their ancestors in maintaining the nation, making it function and passing it on to their children.
Minoritarianism is upside down, toxic and cancerous. No nation or civilization can survive with an ideology of negating itself. That whole ideology is what has to be utterly defeated--chucked out wholesale--to save the West.Replies: @Getaclue
Y’all.
Watch this funny 1-minute clip. A Black MSNBC host thinks the term “hardworker” is racist.
Seriously.
OTOH, she may be on to something.Replies: @Boy the way Glenn Miller played
Commenter Adam came up with the very same number I’d have pulled out, 99.9%. I don’t care what some news reports say, that’s pretty close to the number of people who are not this type of weirdo – it’s maybe even lower than 1 in 1,000 that are. Well, then, that’s NY City, so YMMV…
I come at the solution to this from a different perspective than a waiter does. As a commonsense neutral observer, I say these sensitive non-binary people ought to just eat at home to avoid this type of trouble . It’s healthier and saves lots of money that may be sorely needed later for an artificial vagina or some other boy-toy.
I absolutely hate those lever-action doorknobs.
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.
(The knobs were at the top of the tank, and you pulled them straight up. It's probably totally different now, considering how fast design changes in that country.)
We have them in our rural Midwestern apartment now. Whether one gets caught on them depends on the angle of the door when open to one's path when walking by. Of the ten in our place (i.e., on five doors), only two or three pose this problem. We're mostly okay. But, yeah, it's happened to us.Replies: @anon, @SaneClownPosse, @Right_On
Maybe they’re not. Maybe most people really don’t feel “welcoming” towards these pushy, creepy weirdos.
Remember, this is the person who gets to tell us what to do:
1) get the attention they crave
2) feel self-righteous while explaining the reasons why their lifestyle choices are superior to yours
3) attempt to make everyone else as miserable as they are
https://anaeliaovalle.github.io/authors/admin/avatar_hufaaa29a55c83231121bc4410c15e97a3_14872157_270x270_fill_q90_lanczos_center.jpg
Sir, ma’am, they….just don’t call them late for dinner
Somebody had to post this, it might as well be me.
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.Replies: @Anonymous, @Reg Cæsar, @HammerJack, @Ben tillman, @Anon
Lever action doorknobs are convenient though. If your hands are dirty or soiled or wet, you can use the back of your hand or elbow to open the door. Or if you just washed your hands and you don’t want to touch a doorknob that lots of hands have touched, you can use the back of your hand or wrist or elbow to open the door. Or if your hands are full, you can use your leg and foot to kick down the lever and flick open the door. They’re just more versatile than round knobs.
One of their downsides is that smart dogs learn how to use them, whereas without opposable thumbs...Replies: @HammerJack, @Sollipsist
The trend is toward universal design--wheel chair, impaired, etc. friendly. You may be doing fine, but have an elderly relative you want to come stay. Or you may have a skiing accident or an MVA and suddenly be in a chair or on crutches. Good to have a house that is accommodating for that condition--whether temporary or permanent. And we all get older--nice not having to move--or remodel everything--if you don't want to.Replies: @Jim Bob Lassiter
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.Replies: @Anonymous, @Reg Cæsar, @HammerJack, @Ben tillman, @Anon
When I went to Denmark in the ’80s, I didn’t notice it as a tourist on my first trip, but sure did on the second, when I spent a whole spring studying: they had levers on every door, and knobs on every toilet tank. The opposite of America! It didn’t bother me; it was just one more little difference to get used to.
(The knobs were at the top of the tank, and you pulled them straight up. It’s probably totally different now, considering how fast design changes in that country.)
We have them in our rural Midwestern apartment now. Whether one gets caught on them depends on the angle of the door when open to one’s path when walking by. Of the ten in our place (i.e., on five doors), only two or three pose this problem. We’re mostly okay. But, yeah, it’s happened to us.
What's next, wrenches without handles? Keeping animals and people without a functional grip (toddlers/oldies) out is the only functional justification for them.Replies: @Reg Cæsar, @Graham
Hate it when they've got two knobs, or a divided knob, on top. Which one do I press? Or should I activate both? Decisions, decisions, . . .
Now when I was a lad, they had pull-chains on toilets, as the water tank was up high. (So greater impact when the water hits the mess, no?) I see they're making a comeback with fans of retro cod-Victoriana.Replies: @Reg Cæsar
“They” looks like a woman to me, so woman them is. If she put some effort in, she could even be moderately attractive. Be that as it may, as I said in another comment somewhere, time to bring back the mental institutions.
It’s rather quite breathtaking and amazing that American society, as a whole, seems more than willing to tie itself into knots for a fairly slim, deviant and mentally-unstable minority, isn’t it? I can only wonder what our opponents in China are thinking of our inexorable and debased descent into insanity.
What silly times we live in.
My attention was caught by the caption beneath the first photo:
Really? If someone opened a steakhouse next door that offered free meals to straight white people, how long do you think the authorities would let it stay open?
You buried the lede! Again! Your call and watchword! Burying the lede!
The real lede is working class people suffer and have no recourse and are paid peanuts and are overworked.
The real lede is class not race (nor whatever you call that gay stuff).
The real lead is we are all being immiserated, pauperized, turned into utter slaves by this insane economic “system” that rewards idiots and punishes those who do the actual work, while you and Ofvelia whine about pronouns.
So a single “they” is plural? Why? Are they (plural) avoiding “they leads” because it’s still technically incorrect usage? Because it sounds like bad English? Because it sounds black?
At this point I want them to have to write stuff like “they is…”.
That way, you can't go wrong. Plus, it's double Pokémon diversity points for incorporating grammar of color.
“When ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ Miss the Mark”
just call them Dining People.
Birthing People, Dining People, Actor People.
and the award for best Actor Person goes to…
can’t wait until this spreads to the military.
Xir, yes Xir.
Anaelia Ovalle (they/she) is a computer science doctoral student at UCLA…..They lead the UCLA Graduate Women in Computer Science.
So, someone who goes by ‘she’ and leads the Graduate Women in C.S., is offended when you call her ma’am? If I didn’t know better I would think being offended was the point.
They’re just more versatile than round knobs.
One of their downsides is that smart dogs learn how to use them, whereas without opposable thumbs…
To do whatever they want!
https://i2.wp.com/gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Dog-Chases-Man-With-Hose.gif
*I mean actual useful service dogs, not the toys that fragile people keep for emotional comfort and attention. Those tend to not be too small to reach the doorknobs, not to mention too poorly trained, and likely in need of emotional support themselves...Replies: @kaganovitch
The best way to maintain subject-verb agreement while using trans pronouns is with ebonics grammar. As in, “he be leading/she be leading/they be leading,” etc.
That way, you can’t go wrong. Plus, it’s double Pokémon diversity points for incorporating grammar of color.
https://youtu.be/JdnBV-S-RXkReplies: @Hypnotoad666, @Mr. Anon, @Daniel H
I am no doctor, but this could be a case of having PMS and ‘roid rage at the same time.
No, it’s his, her, or its problem.
You don’t have to agree. But your verbs should.
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.Replies: @Anonymous, @Reg Cæsar, @HammerJack, @Ben tillman, @Anon
All of them? Even the villa in Boca Raton? Your flat in the 16e? Your co-op in 740 Park? Is nothing sacred? At long last sir, is nothing sacred?
Nice deal, even if it is vegan. Which reminds me, I just remembered some things about myself.
Correctly used to refer to a group of people, not a single person.
Who cares about correct usage when forced to refer to or, even worse, address a freak like that? "Y'all" is more than good enough for them.
Back around 1990, I moved to a college town where I was soon informed that I had "offended the women of Columbia [MO]". (I'd only met a couple dozen in a town with a total pop. of 69,000.) Apparently I had referred to them as "gals", not "women". When asked why, I said, I thought it sounded more polite than "**** faces".
I'm far less concerned with polite address than I was then.
I’m a teacher, and children with Complicated Needs are driving us out of the profession, mostly because they have Difficult Parents
One of their downsides is that smart dogs learn how to use them, whereas without opposable thumbs...Replies: @HammerJack, @Sollipsist
That’s an upside! Dogs must be free!
To do whatever they want!
It is contemptible for a customer to choose to take offence when a waiter makes an honest effort to address him with conventional politeness. But then the people we are talking about – the perpetually offended – really are contemptible.
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with “Hey, you!”. What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that “you” can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, “Y’all”, which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn’t “Y’all” technically singular, with the plural being “Y’all, y’all”?
These weirdos will be better off (for a while) when the Chinese buy up the country and make everyone learn Mandarin. See, there's just the one pronoun "ta" that means "he", or "she", or "it".
See Fun with Pronouns, for more discussion.Replies: @Fun To Do Bad Things
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithee
Also, we should get rid of the overly polite/obsequious usage of plural pronouns for addressing a single person.
Thou, thee, thy, thine are far superior to you'se, y'all, all-y'all, etc. for making a distinction between addressing an individual and addressing a group.Replies: @VivaLaMigra
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ye
https://dailyverses.net/images/en/kjv/xl/james-4-2.jpg
Yeezy claims his nickname and new album title “Ye” is the good book’s most-used word: Turns out it’s more like 40th.
Thanks, and y’all did say “correctly,” but y’all is being a bit of a purist. I just checked the wikipedia entry, and there is a longstanding usage among many to also address a single person using this word – – especially among non-Southerners.
I’ve often said thatpeople should simply address each othr using a neologism that combines all current forms of address: “SheHeIt”. Saves time, and, since it expresses the Lefts’ underlying assumptions about people and the human condition, might stop complaints from the Left.
In the meantime, take a look at: https://www.wnd.com/2022/04/cdc-u-k-data-covid-vaccines-also-failing-prevent-deaths/ . That’s why taking medicine from self revealed lying and incompetent but very powerful people is a bad idea. It’s essentially the same reason that buying recreational drugs without recourse against the vendor in case of prompt poisoning is a bad idea.
Clay Davis beat you to it, years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70eU840lc38
The real disaster is coming: Germany’s Aldi chain is upping grocery prices by as much as 50%. Just the beginning no doubt.
All these Silly Season people will also be unemployable AND the government won’t have money to throw at them. They’re real close to finding the patience of normal humans is elastic but not infinitely so. There will be even funnier videos to come.
Dieter Kief, I meant to ask you about this. I hope you stocked up a bit as hopefully the full 50% will be temporary. (?)Replies: @Franz
Some suggestions for a sir/ma’am substitute
Mir
Sa’am
Sa’ar
Mim
Sim
Ma’ar
Si’am
Yo
Your queerulousness
Yo yo yo
My ninja
Theyallity
Y’all
You’uns
Yuns
Starshine
Humdingerer
Moondark
Skyshine
Mix
Uneekness
Hunka hunka burnin’ them
All that and a bag a chips
Theyby (pronounced they-be)
All y’all
Comrade
Friend
My favorite:
Your personality disorderliness
What are your suggestions?
The Australian "mate" is also omnisexual.
Though both those suggestions are too practical, conciliatory and functional; something like the unisex "snowflake", "fucko", or "c*nt" might be more appropriate for these irritating wendies.Replies: @VivaLaMigra
In a related style, I suggest English rely on context. Everyone can use the personal pronoun "I" for all singular and plural instances of the first, second, and third person. Sure, it would be confusing at first, but then everyone would get used to contextual communication.
"Am I going to the party?"
" No, I'm not going... but I'm going! How about I? "
"I have to work, but maybe John will. I haven't seen I in a long time!"Replies: @AnotherDad
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71TN6yCSOOL._AC_SX679_.jpg
When i go to that story at NYT, i can’t see a link to a comment thread. Did they remove them?
I just checked. The comments are still there, but it does seem that the issue is too complicated and the commenters are unusually annoyed and not hiding it.Replies: @Rob
One more:
Cray-cray-they
Oh, they get out too, and move on to Google where they put sand in the wheels of teams that actually design and build software that does useful stuff.
https://youtu.be/JdnBV-S-RXkReplies: @Hypnotoad666, @Mr. Anon, @Daniel H
I’m a woman! And if you don’t think I am, then you can suck my d**k!
Being a trannie drops the IQ even more, something like 20,5 points. So he could have an IQ of about 165,5 points.
Sa’am
Sa’ar
Mim
Sim
Ma’ar
Si’am
Yo
Your queerulousness
Yo yo yo
My ninja
Theyallity
Y’all
You’uns
Yuns
Starshine
Humdingerer
Moondark
Skyshine
Mix
Uneekness
Hunka hunka burnin’ them
All that and a bag a chips
Theyby (pronounced they-be)
All y’all
Comrade
FriendMy favorite:
Your personality disorderlinessWhat are your suggestions?Replies: @The Germ Theory of Disease, @Gordo, @Chrisnonymous, @Reg Cæsar
The all-purpose, one-size-fits-all Britishism “luv” might be put to use.
The Australian “mate” is also omnisexual.
Though both those suggestions are too practical, conciliatory and functional; something like the unisex “snowflake”, “fucko”, or “c*nt” might be more appropriate for these irritating wendies.
I liked this comment.
“I can’t tell if this hyper focus on how to address non-binary/trans people, an issue with a minuscule footprint, is a plot by conservatives to make liberals look silly, a plot by the rich to avoid talking about real economic inequality or a plot by young adults who were told all their lives that they were special and winners. Whichever one it is, please stop! There are more important things than someone who can afford to eat in a restaurant and is momentarily embarrassed because someone hasn’t treated them like the unique jewel of preciousness they know they are.”
Every insanity has its 15 minutes.
Is this one over yet? It doesn’t seem to be but the various madnesses of crowds are driven by numerous powerful currents under the surface and you never know if it’s over until it is.
This attitude has been disastrous. When pc took over higher ed a good thirty years ago, this is the kind of shrug routinely offered. They'll grow out of it. They'll have to get jobs and become bourgeois. They'll relent under the power of our counter-arguments.You are wronger than wrong.
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with "Hey, you!". What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that "you" can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, "Y'all", which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn't "Y'all" technically singular, with the plural being "Y'all, y'all"?Replies: @Steve Sailer, @Achmed E. Newman, @Dennis Dale, @Coemgen, @Reg Cæsar
“Hey, you!” is one of my pronouns.
Although your face
Looks like
It might
Have gone
'Trow... a.. machine."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNba2ZQ3JOs
The music's gone now.
You lost it somehow.Replies: @Boy the way Glenn Miller played
But none of the comments questioned the who and the why of it.
Seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lls4xJJV5cReplies: @Technite78, @Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
It’s funny because Melissa Harris-Perry apparently thinks that the only way to get black people to work hard is through slavery.
OTOH, she may be on to something.
Becoming transgender is a sacred journey of becoming whole, says ex-Archbishop of Canterbury.
And Rowan Williams wonders why no one goes to his church anymore? Most people define ‘sacred’ journey as leading somewhere other than a toilet stall.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
That photo says it all. This is a person who is intentionally trying to provoke an argument, over which they can:
1) get the attention they crave
2) feel self-righteous while explaining the reasons why their lifestyle choices are superior to yours
3) attempt to make everyone else as miserable as they are
Eat at home & spare the rest of your bs.
The government wouldn’t need to shut it down, Sherlock. Who could afford to run that restaurant?
https://youtu.be/JdnBV-S-RXkReplies: @Hypnotoad666, @Mr. Anon, @Daniel H
I thought that Jame Gumb was off’d by Jody Foster in that movie.
Sigh……..
It’s all so exhausting.
Having a ton of intersectional points, as Anaelia Ovalle does, will get you pretty much into any graduate program these days, even CS, without the requisite GRE scores. But getting out with a Ph.D. is a harder proposition; presumably most candidates need to have the necessary applied math skills simply to get to the thesis stage.
But if your thesis area is also about identity and discrimination on top of your having such points yourself, it is pretty much bulletproof against any thesis committee these days. Which aging tenured professor is going to risk the wrath of the mob by pointing out that your thesis is all rubbish?
And which employer is going to say that your specialization is superfluous to their needs?
In 2022,done right, academics can a straight, resistance-free path into a $250k job for the Anaelia Ovalles of the world.
“computer science doctoral student at UCLA.”
AKA I want to be a professor / I really can’t or don’t want to program a computer, but IT is still hiring and I need to do something.
“Elia is conscious of context-sensitive impacts and implications upon deployment, with particular interests in improving health equity and empowering historically marginalized populations”
Gobbledygook. You install/deploy the code and it works, or it does not. There is your context.
“Algorithmic Fairness
Representation Learning
Multimodal Machine Learning
Affective Computing”
Buzzword bingo. Tell me, oh Graduate Student, in one to two clear, concise sentences what each of these terms are so that someone who is NOT in IT can understand them.
I’ve been in IT for decades. I solve real world problems for companies, not made up ones.
the media and academia (and their cannon fodder in the field) are working HARD to enrage you…with pronouns and anti-white rhetoric and trannies and who knows what…they desperately NEED you to be enraged over their shenanigans…please accommodate them and be enraged…
I’ve seen more and more use of ‘Mx’ lately in places of increasing prestige but only in writing, nobody is calling anyone ‘Mix’ yet except very small children that ‘non-binary’ teachers enjoy indoctrinating.
Here is a post on Grammarly extolling it’s virtues.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/ms-mrs-miss-difference/
Here is an NBC article reporting on young female Tumblr users who also happen to be teachers who get their students to call them ‘Mix’, including some 9th graders who I’d imagine they’d be wary of but maybe modern 14 year olds are groomed to that level by now. (Or maybe they’re mostly 14 year old girls who are turbo conformists who are driving the current moral panic)
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/ms-mr-or-mx-nonbinary-teachers-embrace-gender-neutral-honorific-n960456
“Tai Tran, a 24-year-old transgender 7th grade math and science teacher in Richmond, California, feels similarly. Describing her first year as a teacher, Tran told NBC News that “Going by Mr. Tran was not a very good year for me.””
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
“Team, meet your new Project Manager.”
Non-binary grade school teachers… they’re allowing people with serious psychological issues indoctrinate children. That’s really depressing.
Actually the word they’re avoiding is it.
One could argue that a person with an unusual gender choice may need to go to a specialized restaurant. Perhaps a place with servers use augmented reality glasses connected to a special database of gender choice/pronoun choice.
Thus a person could fill out their entry in this database, walk in, have their face recognized, and the proper pronouns would appear next to their face. Problem solved!
Or, like Bugs Bunny, the server could just use “Hey, you!”:
This does raise a possible issue with AR backed by facial recognition; when Bugs is done shaving Elmer, his appearance might have changed.
“Dere! you’re nice and clean!
Although your face
Looks like
It might
Have gone
‘Trow… a.. machine.”
“Now you can call me Ray, or you can call me J, or you can call me Johnny, or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me Junie, or you can call me Junior; now you can call me Ray J, or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ Jr., but you doesn’t hasta call me Johnson!”
The sheer ignorance of the muggles and their binary assumptions! Not that Ovalle proposed any non-binary forms of address. She should wear a badge saying:
Or perhaps by “they/she” she means:
Whatever you say is bound to be wrong. Perhaps that’s the purpose. It is a surprising lack of precision from someone who is “obsessing” about ML and “algorithmic fairness”.
I think that's precisely the purpose: do your classic rug-pull and unleash your tirade on some perfectly decent person trying to be polite and make a living. Enjoy the frisson of your righteous indignation, get column space in the NY Times.
A family member works at a large vo-tech school. They have students putting instructors through the wringer all the time with this crap.
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with "Hey, you!". What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that "you" can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, "Y'all", which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn't "Y'all" technically singular, with the plural being "Y'all, y'all"?Replies: @Steve Sailer, @Achmed E. Newman, @Dennis Dale, @Coemgen, @Reg Cæsar
“Y’all” is plural only, same as “youse”, as said in New Jersey and points adjacent.
These weirdos will be better off (for a while) when the Chinese buy up the country and make everyone learn Mandarin. See, there’s just the one pronoun “ta” that means “he”, or “she”, or “it”.
See Fun with Pronouns, for more discussion.
The first comment is spot on, the linguistic efficiency of pronouns is destroyed if we require intimate knowledge of a person’s life choices. Pronouns evolved organically to be good enough, while attempts to make them perfect for every conceivable situation destroy the utility.
BTW, what is the real agenda ? Steve saw this early on. It cannot be about such a small group of people, no matter how sympathetic (or not).
My theory, this is useful way to pervert state authority. It exchanges “turn the other cheek” for “render unto Caesar”.
That is, we are taught that manners in an orderly society require having a thick skin. It is wrong to take law into ones own hands or to meet out justice. This makes sense because personal passions and bias make would make for a pretty chaotic world.
Nonetheless, the state has rules that that should generally be obeyed so that society can function.
For example, it would be wrong for me to kill Bin Laden, to hunt down a rapist, or to meet out frontier justice to a pickpocket. However, the state has a compelling interest in an orderly society and as an institution can mediate the individual passions. The state can punish criminals, but I cannot and should not. It’s OK for the state to seek out and punish offenders. There is no conflict.
What we see is a perversion of the rules, of both individual and state behavior, to enable bullying and vengeance by proxy. I can exact my vengeance because only I get to say what offends. Nonetheless, I can deny my dark nature by pointing to the state as enforcer of civil society.
If you can make this work for trannies, what could it not be used for?
My wife had me well aware of this, as we get 50% or more of the groceries from Aldi. Franz, is that increase in Germany only, or throughout the whole chain?
Dieter Kief, I meant to ask you about this. I hope you stocked up a bit as hopefully the full 50% will be temporary. (?)
“Hey, you!” is one of my favorite Bachman Turner Overdrive songs.
The music’s gone now.
You lost it somehow.
“…not for everyone else on the planet to add levers to their doorknobs in case he visits.”
It’s actually a building code in California for new homes to have levers instead of door knobs to accommodate the handicapped.” Just saying…
There is this related discussion (note the lawyer suing small businesses about this under the ADA) here.
http://billwalterlocksmith.com/knobs-vs-levers/
I am curious because I really like the analogy in that NYT comment:And am trying to explore it a bit.
Does such a tool exist? The solutions I am seeing are notable for all requiring changes at the door rather than being a tool one can carry.
https://ability411.ca/answer/door-knob-grips-what-tool-will-help-my-client-grip-standard-round-door-knobs-more-easily
https://www.soss.com/opening-a-door-is-not-an-easy-task-for-everyone/
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1789/9507/products/34727_photo.jpgReplies: @kaganovitch, @Achmed E. Newman, @PiltdownMan
OT: Black Lives Matter secretly used $6 million in donations to buy luxurious 6,500-square foot mansion with seven bedrooms and parking for 20 cars in Southern California in 2020 where leaders have filmed YouTube videos
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10685303/Black-Lives-Matter-secretly-used-6-million-donations-buy-luxurious-6-500-square-foot-mansion.html
I want sexual degenerates to feel uncomfortable in public.
One of the hallmarks of the woke, particularly the alphabet people, is a complete lack of graciousness. This is because their version of tolerance is not from a sincere and good-hearted place, but from the urge to rule others.
The Lisa Cook Method.
She’s a mixed race woman with sexuality issues. She’s going to have a chip on her shoulder.
Can’t imagine a big uptake tbh.
Sa’am
Sa’ar
Mim
Sim
Ma’ar
Si’am
Yo
Your queerulousness
Yo yo yo
My ninja
Theyallity
Y’all
You’uns
Yuns
Starshine
Humdingerer
Moondark
Skyshine
Mix
Uneekness
Hunka hunka burnin’ them
All that and a bag a chips
Theyby (pronounced they-be)
All y’all
Comrade
FriendMy favorite:
Your personality disorderlinessWhat are your suggestions?Replies: @The Germ Theory of Disease, @Gordo, @Chrisnonymous, @Reg Cæsar
Faggot?
With so many wackos at intersections, can’t some of them get run over?
The only pronoun appropriate for these delicate creatures is ‘it’.
In the meantime, take a look at: https://www.wnd.com/2022/04/cdc-u-k-data-covid-vaccines-also-failing-prevent-deaths/ . That's why taking medicine from self revealed lying and incompetent but very powerful people is a bad idea. It's essentially the same reason that buying recreational drugs without recourse against the vendor in case of prompt poisoning is a bad idea.Replies: @Gary in Gramercy
“I’ve often said that people should simply address each other using a neologism that combines all current forms of address: ‘SheHeIt.’”
Clay Davis beat you to it, years ago:
If an establishment wants to cater to a certain crowd, they have to accommodate them.
https://palladiummag.com/2021/10/11/the-triumph-and-terror-of-wang-huning/
Right now Peru is declaring curfews to rein in protests over inflation. Egypt and a few other Maghribi countries are not far off from riots; Lebanon continues to make Mexico look like Singapore. We are one season of food instability away from government instability in many countries. Good thing we’re trying to start a war with Russia.
Inflation + Transexual from ’76:
Debate ’76 – SNL (@0:33 the fun starts when journalists are introduced)
Search on: dan aykroyd jimmy carter inflation for more classic SNL.
… what do they gain by disgusting people? I see this argument in discussions about entertainment media and it seems to me it must be trying-far-too-hard, overthought-out shilling. The idea is that if you complain about how horrible entertainment media is now, you fell for it, because it was all just a plot to generate buzz. So sacrificing your product and reputation and a portion of your profits will all pay off in the end because … not sure I got that last part …
Wrong. It’s a Silicon Valley affirmative action ghetto for BIPOCs and women. They can’t write the code that decides what products at Walmart get put in a loss prevention cage, so instead they get to criticize the code for it concluding that black haircare products and Hennessy need to be put in a loss prevention cage.
Sa’am
Sa’ar
Mim
Sim
Ma’ar
Si’am
Yo
Your queerulousness
Yo yo yo
My ninja
Theyallity
Y’all
You’uns
Yuns
Starshine
Humdingerer
Moondark
Skyshine
Mix
Uneekness
Hunka hunka burnin’ them
All that and a bag a chips
Theyby (pronounced they-be)
All y’all
Comrade
FriendMy favorite:
Your personality disorderlinessWhat are your suggestions?Replies: @The Germ Theory of Disease, @Gordo, @Chrisnonymous, @Reg Cæsar
Japanese communicate quite well often without subject/pronoun identifiers, based just on context. Instead of “she’s my wife,” you can usually get away with “my wife”, or “like sushi?” instead of ” do you like sushi?”
In a related style, I suggest English rely on context. Everyone can use the personal pronoun “I” for all singular and plural instances of the first, second, and third person. Sure, it would be confusing at first, but then everyone would get used to contextual communication.
“Am I going to the party?”
” No, I’m not going… but I’m going! How about I? ”
“I have to work, but maybe John will. I haven’t seen I in a long time!”
One of their downsides is that smart dogs learn how to use them, whereas without opposable thumbs...Replies: @HammerJack, @Sollipsist
That’s a clear benefit for people with service dogs.*
*I mean actual useful service dogs, not the toys that fragile people keep for emotional comfort and attention. Those tend to not be too small to reach the doorknobs, not to mention too poorly trained, and likely in need of emotional support themselves…
99.9%? A convenient number–like the number who survived SARS-2.
In other words, it’s no longer about the “1%” who lord over us, it’s the “0.1%” who lord over us. And in both cases, those actually doing the lording are an even smaller number.
And as problems go, worrying about the 0.1% makes for some pretty trivial dilemmas–even in NYC, which specializes in niche trivia problems. Though, it does strike as highly comical that the NYT would import problems from Los Angeles for The New York Times “news” section.
Making New York welcoming to weirdos not yet imagined would make a good motto for the masthead.
E.g., https://twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice/status/1511002489788805123
Thinking? They’re laughing.
So, someone who goes by 'she' and leads the Graduate Women in C.S., is offended when you call her ma'am? If I didn't know better I would think being offended was the point.Replies: @Forbes
Seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lls4xJJV5cReplies: @Technite78, @Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
Why does Greta van Susteren say (at 1:12) “getting fucked up” on TV?
people smart enough to get into grad school but not to get out.
Right on the nose, Mr iSteve. Congrats.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
I found this picture of they:
Please elaborate.
Judging by what I've seen at meetings, the "whatever it takes" amount is somewhere between 25% and infinity.Replies: @Jim Don Bob
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
Nose ring – not on one side (which may have a history in some cultures), but rather in the septum, just the type one uses to control a bull (or other fractious animal).
Right up there with a facial tattoo in the “self-exiled from respectable society” category – although at least you can get rid of it when you’re tired of being there.
Re: Comments on article at NYT
I just checked. The comments are still there, but it does seem that the issue is too complicated and the commenters are unusually annoyed and not hiding it.
All Southerners know that “y’all” is singular. The plural is “all y’all.”
Begins at 1:10 and goes for about one minute. Old-movie brilliant screenwriting… Bust of Balzac thrown through a plate-glass winduh. Martin Milner in Mr. Roberts. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhVjJGvluQ
“discomfiting”. Sigh.
Ever since COVID forced me into semi retirement, I’ve been tending bar part time in a little beer joint here in Dallas. I have to deal with this stuff every once in a while. Although the place might be the friendliest in town to those of a Sailerite disposition, we do get outliers once in a while. One half of every lesbian couple will have the look of being ready for me to say something “wrong.” They look ready to take offense at anything.
“Sally” comes in a couple of times a month. He is so obviously a dude in a dress it is like he’s inviting me to start something. He wears what I would call a muumuu/house dress and slippers. He has a pronounced 5 o’clock shadow, and clip on earrings. He looks like he just raided his grandmother’s closet. One of the funniest looking dudes you’ll ever see. All the regulars just ignore him but will burst out in laughter once he leaves. Just like with all the customers, I do my best to just provide good service and ignore what I can. I do call him Ma’am. Sally pays with a credit card that says “Bradley” on it.
Of note: Sally comes in for a couple of beers when he’s taking a break from working for one of the ride sharing services. Consider yourselves warned.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
Are Europeans and their descendants the only group of people with clear facial differences between males and females? That person seems to be a female, but there are probably hundreds of thousands of Mexican men who have almost identical faces.
Cisgendered male (born with a penis):
https://i.ibb.co/xgrqStW/10314729.jpg
Cisgendered female (born with a vagina):
https://i.ibb.co/w4Kn2FK/7598.jpg
The SAT Isn’t What’s Unfair
By Kathryn Paige Harden
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/mit-admissions-reinstates-sat-act-tests/629455/
So what is the root cause of the black-white intelligence gap, according to Harden?
So Harden’s seven-point plan to level the IQ gap is to remedy:
1. Lead in black’s water?
2. Vitamin and mineral diet deficiencies? She can’t mean a lack of calories! And aren’t all blacks on a meal plan in public schools? Too much pizza and not enough broccoli in the meals?
3. Few public parks in black neighborhoods? Or does she mean the camping gap?
4. Too many bullets flying around black neighborhoods from the AR-15’s of white supremacists, added to all the lynchings?
5. Dirty school rooms: a cleaning woman shortage? Who is making the rooms dirty in the first place?
6. Teachers who aren’t stimulating … does that mean not enough black teachers or not enough white teachers?
7. Too few museum field trips?
So about 2 IQ points per deficiency.
It's actually a building code in California for new homes to have levers instead of door knobs to accommodate the handicapped." Just saying...Replies: @res
Do you have a reference for that? I am not able to find good information about it.
There is this related discussion (note the lawyer suing small businesses about this under the ADA) here.
http://billwalterlocksmith.com/knobs-vs-levers/
I am curious because I really like the analogy in that NYT comment:
And am trying to explore it a bit.
Does such a tool exist? The solutions I am seeing are notable for all requiring changes at the door rather than being a tool one can carry.
https://ability411.ca/answer/door-knob-grips-what-tool-will-help-my-client-grip-standard-round-door-knobs-more-easily
https://www.soss.com/opening-a-door-is-not-an-easy-task-for-everyone/
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
Depends on the doorknob. Some have limited space and the strap will tend to slip onto the stem. Jar grippers work pretty well; I hung one on a door for my mom who has arthritis and one of her rooms has a sort of difficult door knob. She tells me it works well.
https://www.amazon.com/Jar-Grippers-Grip-Slip-Rubber/dp/B004HM1E3YReplies: @Jim Bob Lassiter
O/T – mass shooting in Sacramento, 70 bullets, six dead and 12 injured. Initial thought was, “Sailer’s Law in action” but I was confused by the pics showing a group of white folks brawling. Then today came the naming an arrestee by the name of Dandre and the world makes sense again…
These weirdos will be better off (for a while) when the Chinese buy up the country and make everyone learn Mandarin. See, there's just the one pronoun "ta" that means "he", or "she", or "it".
See Fun with Pronouns, for more discussion.Replies: @Fun To Do Bad Things
Didn’t we bring this up with Hungarian pronouns a couple months back? These people don’t want to use the same pronouns as everyone else—having their own special set of pronouns upon which they insist is the point.
I gotta say, I kind of understand the pouring pig's blood on the heads of intellectuals thing now.
Separate classrooms, bathrooms, locker rooms, kitchens, etc. in public schools. Enough to accommodate every possible combination of genders and special needs. Head off the inevitable lawyersuits.
Some students are nocturnal, cold weather intolerant, etc. Some kids observe lesser known holidays. The schools should operate 24×7 @365. Kids must be assigned a teacher who is certified fluent in the language in which the student prefers to learn.
Zero tolerance for school bullying. All students have a right to be addressed by their PPs. The juvenile justice system needs a substation in every public school, in order to conduct fair trials over matters of student conduct that rise to the level of detention, e.g. improper use of PP. The school principal, an Executive branch guy, role playing as judge and jury violates the doctrine of Separation.
(The knobs were at the top of the tank, and you pulled them straight up. It's probably totally different now, considering how fast design changes in that country.)
We have them in our rural Midwestern apartment now. Whether one gets caught on them depends on the angle of the door when open to one's path when walking by. Of the ten in our place (i.e., on five doors), only two or three pose this problem. We're mostly okay. But, yeah, it's happened to us.Replies: @anon, @SaneClownPosse, @Right_On
I don’t think the insanity known as the round door knob exists outside of America.
What’s next, wrenches without handles? Keeping animals and people without a functional grip (toddlers/oldies) out is the only functional justification for them.
It has.
This is intentional. Students like the author are being weaponized to nuke their own society.
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with "Hey, you!". What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that "you" can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, "Y'all", which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn't "Y'all" technically singular, with the plural being "Y'all, y'all"?Replies: @Steve Sailer, @Achmed E. Newman, @Dennis Dale, @Coemgen, @Reg Cæsar
“all y’all” is the proper plural form
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with "Hey, you!". What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that "you" can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, "Y'all", which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn't "Y'all" technically singular, with the plural being "Y'all, y'all"?Replies: @Steve Sailer, @Achmed E. Newman, @Dennis Dale, @Coemgen, @Reg Cæsar
The solution is not to make up new words or change the definition of old words but to use already established language for common, well-established, things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithee
Also, we should get rid of the overly polite/obsequious usage of plural pronouns for addressing a single person.
Thou, thee, thy, thine are far superior to you’se, y’all, all-y’all, etc. for making a distinction between addressing an individual and addressing a group.
Speaking of the latter, I'm reminded of an incident where a US military officer of flag rank was testifying before the US Senate and Diane Feinstein took offense at his use of "Ma'am" in addressing her. He was merely following accepted military protocol; one's superiors are addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" and since the armed forces of this constitutional republic are under ultimate civilian authority, military personnel address members of Congress as their superiors. Of course, you can hardly expect a Democrat to have enough intelligence to grasp that his use of "Ma'am" was thus more deferential than using "Senator." Replies: @Anonymous
How about a nice cup of “Shut the Fuck Up!”
Pretty sure the terms Algorithmic Fairness and Multimodal Machine Learning means you’re going to put kludges in the “code” to detect different “sets” of people and “massage” the results. E.g maybe a person named Floquenzo Washington will be treated differently than someone called Reginald van Gleason III.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/dining/30gender-restaurants1/28gender-restaurants1-facebookJumbo.jpgReplies: @Technite78, @mmack, @Jim Don Bob, @MM, @Anon, @Elmer Fudge
Ugly people are the downfall of society. Plastic surgery and personal trainers should be free, subsidized by the government, and in 5 years we would have none of this nonsense. However, that is not our reality, and so ugly, undesirable, unloved weirdo girls are forced to resort to this non binary crap in order to get the attention they so desperately crave.
There is this related discussion (note the lawyer suing small businesses about this under the ADA) here.
http://billwalterlocksmith.com/knobs-vs-levers/
I am curious because I really like the analogy in that NYT comment:And am trying to explore it a bit.
Does such a tool exist? The solutions I am seeing are notable for all requiring changes at the door rather than being a tool one can carry.
https://ability411.ca/answer/door-knob-grips-what-tool-will-help-my-client-grip-standard-round-door-knobs-more-easily
https://www.soss.com/opening-a-door-is-not-an-easy-task-for-everyone/
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1789/9507/products/34727_photo.jpgReplies: @kaganovitch, @Achmed E. Newman, @PiltdownMan
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
Depends on the doorknob. Some have limited space and the strap will tend to slip onto the stem. Jar grippers work pretty well; I hung one on a door for my mom who has arthritis and one of her rooms has a sort of difficult door knob. She tells me it works well.
Other things Ovalle finds “funny:” Pulling the wings off flies, killing ants with a magnifying glass, tying cans to dogs’ tails.
The combination of narcissism, aggression, and sociopathy is appalling.
I’ve been misgendered twice in my 70 years by grocery clerks too busy to look up. The first time I was younger, took offense, but kept it to myself. The second time I was older and felt sorry for the overworked clerk. In neither instance did I call up a New York Times reporter.
Each of us is descended from sexually reproducing creatures dating back two billion years. And now we’re supposed to remake all of human culture on behalf of a handful of biological mistakes? It’s got to stop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Life_timeline
The comments suggest that this particular whine elicits quite a bit more common sense pushback than others.
But–said it before and i’ll say it again–unless this issue is used as lever to discredit the entire “minorities first” ideology–the majority must bend and accommodate the minority–even a flat out victory on the whole extra-weird sexual minorities (trannies, “non-binary”, etc.) issue will be pointless.
The problem in the West is simply minoritarianism. This idea that majorities must accommodate minorities, rather than the reverse. That being a minority gives you some sort of special status and privilege. That a nation does not belong to its core people–the productive normies who follow their ancestors in maintaining the nation, making it function and passing it on to their children.
Minoritarianism is upside down, toxic and cancerous. No nation or civilization can survive with an ideology of negating itself. That whole ideology is what has to be utterly defeated–chucked out wholesale–to save the West.
Where’s Carla Tortellini when you need her?
Depends on the doorknob. Some have limited space and the strap will tend to slip onto the stem. Jar grippers work pretty well; I hung one on a door for my mom who has arthritis and one of her rooms has a sort of difficult door knob. She tells me it works well.
https://www.amazon.com/Jar-Grippers-Grip-Slip-Rubber/dp/B004HM1E3YReplies: @Jim Bob Lassiter
Can you fucking believe the nerve of this Adam asshole to use the word “normal”? Adam needs to go sit they bare ass down right on top of a square, sharp edged doorknob and twerk hard.
https://youtu.be/kQEPuWZA5VM
https://youtu.be/Kib4VkkynEw
If I missed someone else pointing this out, my apologies.
This naming problem was solved ages ago: Comrade.
Has Putin revived it? I haven’t been following this part of his work.
Former restaurant critic: https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/april-2022/being-paula-camp/?fbclid=IwAR2sGcT30WxrepDo4mIyJE7RJ2RquxjK_sN-DtHfwYmtpGjnfh67m9I_kek
Yep. Didn’t grow up with them, or raise my kids with them, but they’re in this house and easier/better. (Can open with both hands full if necessary.) But you can snag–happened to me a couple times. So it’s +/- like a lot of things in life.
The trend is toward universal design–wheel chair, impaired, etc. friendly. You may be doing fine, but have an elderly relative you want to come stay. Or you may have a skiing accident or an MVA and suddenly be in a chair or on crutches. Good to have a house that is accommodating for that condition–whether temporary or permanent. And we all get older–nice not having to move–or remodel everything–if you don’t want to.
There is this related discussion (note the lawyer suing small businesses about this under the ADA) here.
http://billwalterlocksmith.com/knobs-vs-levers/
I am curious because I really like the analogy in that NYT comment:And am trying to explore it a bit.
Does such a tool exist? The solutions I am seeing are notable for all requiring changes at the door rather than being a tool one can carry.
https://ability411.ca/answer/door-knob-grips-what-tool-will-help-my-client-grip-standard-round-door-knobs-more-easily
https://www.soss.com/opening-a-door-is-not-an-easy-task-for-everyone/
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1789/9507/products/34727_photo.jpgReplies: @kaganovitch, @Achmed E. Newman, @PiltdownMan
2 words for every instance of this problem, Res: Vice Grips
You just leave them on the door knobs till the handicapped company leaves. Get ’em on sale from Harbor Freight, and if that costs too much, get some big C-clamps. I know, I know, the wife may bitch about leaving these on for months at a time. She knew very well who she was marrying …
… and don’t you already have a bunch of small vice grips attached to the small shafts on your car’s controls for the knobs that have cracked off? What? You’re not a redneck, or something? Your s__t don’t stink, and your house don’t have wheels?
C’mon guys! Whaddya’ need a refresher course? It’s all vice grips nowadays! (The FAA frowns on this practice on airplanes, so word to the wise.)
The trend is toward universal design--wheel chair, impaired, etc. friendly. You may be doing fine, but have an elderly relative you want to come stay. Or you may have a skiing accident or an MVA and suddenly be in a chair or on crutches. Good to have a house that is accommodating for that condition--whether temporary or permanent. And we all get older--nice not having to move--or remodel everything--if you don't want to.Replies: @Jim Bob Lassiter
Lever door openers can also put out the eye of a running four year old child.
https://www.etonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/video_1920x1080/public/images/2015-12/1280_et_c4xmaskids1_121815.jpg?itok=DLukzaZl
Arguably they should have designs with a more bulbous ends. Seems like a product opportunity for "child proof" end caps.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2615031/
But--said it before and i'll say it again--unless this issue is used as lever to discredit the entire "minorities first" ideology--the majority must bend and accommodate the minority--even a flat out victory on the whole extra-weird sexual minorities (trannies, "non-binary", etc.) issue will be pointless.
The problem in the West is simply minoritarianism. This idea that majorities must accommodate minorities, rather than the reverse. That being a minority gives you some sort of special status and privilege. That a nation does not belong to its core people--the productive normies who follow their ancestors in maintaining the nation, making it function and passing it on to their children.
Minoritarianism is upside down, toxic and cancerous. No nation or civilization can survive with an ideology of negating itself. That whole ideology is what has to be utterly defeated--chucked out wholesale--to save the West.Replies: @Getaclue
Absolutely great comment!!!
Is this one over yet? It doesn't seem to be but the various madnesses of crowds are driven by numerous powerful currents under the surface and you never know if it's over until it is.Replies: @Dennis Dale
What? If only. This is the worst take you can have. Every insanity now sticks–transmania’s “fifteen minutes” presently stands at something like fifteen years.
This attitude has been disastrous. When pc took over higher ed a good thirty years ago, this is the kind of shrug routinely offered. They’ll grow out of it. They’ll have to get jobs and become bourgeois. They’ll relent under the power of our counter-arguments.
You are wronger than wrong.
Ethical machine learning? 🤮
Ethical Marxism-Leninism? 😎
Insist that your pronouns are I/Me/My/Mine. That way, when they’re talking about you, it sounds as if they’re talking about themselves — and they sound retarded in the process. They want to say “he is a far right-wing nutjob,” but are forced to say “I is a far right wing nutjob.” They want to say about you “he gave his vote to Trump,” but are forced to say “I gave my vote to Trump.” Etc.
The Civil Rights Issue of Our Age
I say:
The so-called “civil rights issue of our age” is the ZEROTH AMENDMENT whereby anybody who can flop, crawl or swim or somehow get into the USA is automatically allowed to permanently reside and occupy the USA.
Quantitative Tightening Monetary Policy Refugee Overload Propaganda In May Of 2022
Watch the JEW /WASP Ruling Class of the American Empire use the monetary policy Quantitative Tightening soon to be in place to extinguish inflation as a cover to pour more and more Refugee Overload and Asylum Seeker Inundation and mass legal immigration and mass illegal immigration into the USA.
How so?
When the Fed uses Quantitative Tightening to pop the asset bubbles and extinguish inflation, that will make the dollar go up and that will economically smash the crud out of many nations and regions around the globe.
The ruling class rats will use the upcoming Global Financial Implosion as an excuse to flood even more mass legal immigration and mass illegal immigration into the USA.
QUANTITATIVE TIGHTENING NOW!
IMPLODE THE ASSET BUBBLES NOW!
https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1511385662229987339?s=20&t=5kColvorVPbX4WjhxsOFVQ
https://twitter.com/NorthmanTrader/status/1511335276714602509?s=20&t=5kColvorVPbX4WjhxsOFVQ
I wrote that the media & its allies are seeking to enrage normal people with their focus on trannies, furries, pedo rights, pronouns, antiwhite propaganda etc etc etc ad infinitum…and that they are DESPERATE to enrage us…
and in response j ross wrote
many things…such as, for one, distracting the focus of grass roots leftist political activism away from broad based economics issues such as healthcare, workers rights, vacation time, progressive taxation, etc…those sorts of bread and butter issues have the potential to hurt the pocketbooks of rich shareholders of the corporations that fund the media via advertising buys…and that therefore control the media…they are also always seeking for new and more outrageous fabricated from whole cloth, astroturfed issues…i assume you have not noticed that these issues are more or less made up…yeah, i could see that…
he also wrote
yeah, except i am the only person who ever said this on this planet, as far as I can tell…if you can find someone besides me who said all or substantially ALL of what I said above, please link to it…
No.
>words
No.
>has it ever been argued before
Yeah, every day on 4chan's /tv/ board.Replies: @propagandist hacker
The biggest economic issue of the last sixty years has been immigration. That is taken up only by those on the right. The hard right.
After that, it's inflation. Again...
What's next, wrenches without handles? Keeping animals and people without a functional grip (toddlers/oldies) out is the only functional justification for them.Replies: @Reg Cæsar, @Graham
You can have it both ways.
Elon, Elon likes his money
He makes a lot and buys into Twitter, they say
Spends his days thanking God for Fed monetary policy extremism
In a bunker to avoid bottles flying from Amber Heard
He was born a rich kid to an African mine owner on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said, “God is dead And the Twitter free speech war’s begun”
Oh, Paul Singer and the ruling class is having a cow today
GO AFTER THAT BILLIONAIRE BASTARD BEZOS NOW!
They Outlawed The Dorsey Dance
They Banned The Bagpipes And Jack
FREE SPEECH NOW!
Lyrics from Ghost Dance by Mr Robbie Robertson:
You don’t stand a chance against my prayers
You don’t stand a chance against my love
But we shall live again, we shall live again
Ghost Dance by Robbie Roberston:
There is a solution using a common English idiom, however: address every customer with "Hey, you!". What it lacks in finesse it makes up for in being completely non-discriminatory (note that "you" can be either singular or plural).
SafeNow (above) suggests, "Y'all", which carries the same import, but am I not correct in taking it to be a regional expression in the US rather than in general use? Also, isn't "Y'all" technically singular, with the plural being "Y'all, y'all"?Replies: @Steve Sailer, @Achmed E. Newman, @Dennis Dale, @Coemgen, @Reg Cæsar
You certainly are. English has always had a second-person-familiar plural, as anyone who’s opened a Holy Book should know:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ye
Yeezy claims his nickname and new album title “Ye” is the good book’s most-used word: Turns out it’s more like 40th.
Has anyone told Ralphie?
I just checked. The comments are still there, but it does seem that the issue is too complicated and the commenters are unusually annoyed and not hiding it.Replies: @Rob
I brought the article up on the app and they showed up
I’d guess all the white people eating free steak dinners would put them out of business faster than the city authorities.
The sound of hooves in the distance. We just might get hard times.
In a related style, I suggest English rely on context. Everyone can use the personal pronoun "I" for all singular and plural instances of the first, second, and third person. Sure, it would be confusing at first, but then everyone would get used to contextual communication.
"Am I going to the party?"
" No, I'm not going... but I'm going! How about I? "
"I have to work, but maybe John will. I haven't seen I in a long time!"Replies: @AnotherDad
English has a perfectly suitable non-gendered 3rd person singular pronoun.
OT but Too Good: New York’s National Public Radio station and communist citadel WNYC, is a “hotbed” of racism and sexism, says former director of the station’s Race and Justice Unit (lol) who is now accused of serial plagiarism (lololol):
https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/wnyc-a-toxic-cesspool-of-discrimination-jami-floyd-says/
Yep, good point. And one i’m on board with as we have this house not just for ourselves but as a place that would be fun to visit for our–currently non-existing–grandchildren. And i’m a big believer that kids are supposed to run around.
Arguably they should have designs with a more bulbous ends. Seems like a product opportunity for “child proof” end caps.
Oh well, good point. I missed out on that specific point, re: the Hungarian pronouns. I will say, they won’t have so much success fucking with the Chinese people. They learned their lesson during Cult-Rev 1.0.
I gotta say, I kind of understand the pouring pig’s blood on the heads of intellectuals thing now.
What's next, wrenches without handles? Keeping animals and people without a functional grip (toddlers/oldies) out is the only functional justification for them.Replies: @Reg Cæsar, @Graham
Pretty much all older houses in the UK have round doorknobs. Some are brass, some are china, and there are also cheap and nasty plastic ones. In our rented 1860s house we have a selection of mismatched and dented brass knobs.
I find that “hey shithead” covers most bases.
Dr. Shit Fun Chew, Undersung Scientist
Nice smile. I'd let her aerate my lungfish.
https://improbable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sfchew.jpgReplies: @fish
Off topic but…:
From the You Can’t Make This Up Department. (It deserves its own iSteve essay here.)
I’d suggest the headline “You can’t keep a good man down.” or “It’s a Black Thing, you wouldn’t understand.”
(NEWSER) – Rapper Markelle Morrow, better known as “Goonew,” joined friends and relatives for a party in a Washington, DC, nightclub Sunday—more than two weeks after his death. The 24-year-old was propped up on stage at the Bliss nightclub, wearing designer clothes and a crown, USA Today reports. Morrow was fatally shot on March 18 in District Heights, Maryland; no arrests have been made. Video of the nightclub event has gone viral, and while some critics are calling the celebration of Morrow’s life disturbing and inappropriate, relatives say it’s exactly how they wanted to honor him.
“We don’t care about anybody and what ya’ll have to say negative. Nobody. We don’t care,” sister Arianna Morrow tells Fox 5. “They’re like, I know his mama wouldn’t approve of that. Yeah, she did, she was on stage with us.” Mother Patrice Morrow says she buried her son on Monday. “I’m pleased with how I sent my son away,” she says. “I wish people would just let me grieve in peace.” Morrow’s relatives say they worked with the nightclub and the funeral home to arrange the event, though Bliss says it was “never made aware of what would transpire.” The nightclub has apologized to anybody who was “upset or offended.”
Please, it’s Doctor.
Dr. Shit Fun Chew, Undersung Scientist
Nice smile. I’d let her aerate my lungfish.
OTOH, she may be on to something.Replies: @Boy the way Glenn Miller played
I wonder if she owns any pictures of Black! people who are working hard without the encouragement of an overseer holding a whip.
My authority on Southern accents does not shed light on this, but it is a wonderful clip.
Begins at 1:10 and goes for about one minute. Old-movie brilliant screenwriting… Bust of Balzac thrown through a plate-glass winduh. Martin Milner in Mr. Roberts.
*I mean actual useful service dogs, not the toys that fragile people keep for emotional comfort and attention. Those tend to not be too small to reach the doorknobs, not to mention too poorly trained, and likely in need of emotional support themselves...Replies: @kaganovitch
True dat.
It’s the poor man’s “I’m with Stupid” shirt.
When the Fed uses Quantitative Tightening to pop the asset bubbles and extinguish inflation, that will make the dollar go up and that will economically smash the crud out of many nations and regions around the globe.
I say:
Perhaps a better way of saying that is that other national currencies and regional currencies will go down against the dollar when the Federal Reserve Bank hikes interest rates and the dollar denominated debt gets more expensive to finance for other nations and regional currencies. Global dollar liquidity will slosh back to USA and then plutocrats will buy up assets of other nations on the cheap. Or things of that nature; things are going to get interesting when the Fed begins to tighten monetary policy. A lot of pips will be squeaking when the monetary policy gets tightened.
Monetary Policy is a serious issue of American power.
Steve Sailer from 2013:
World War T (Transexual Rights Push) As The Next Great Distraction
https://vdare.com/posts/world-war-t-transexual-rights-push-as-the-next-great-distraction
That last letter is spot-on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNba2ZQ3JOs
The music's gone now.
You lost it somehow.Replies: @Boy the way Glenn Miller played
Pink Floyd did it better.
I don’t want no slow implosion of the asset bubbles when the Federal Reserve Bank begins Quantitative Tightening.
I want SHORT SHARP SHOCK.
The Fed should raise the federal funds rate to 6 percent in May.
Whatever you say is bound to be wrong. Perhaps that’s the purpose.
I think that’s precisely the purpose: do your classic rug-pull and unleash your tirade on some perfectly decent person trying to be polite and make a living. Enjoy the frisson of your righteous indignation, get column space in the NY Times.
A family member works at a large vo-tech school. They have students putting instructors through the wringer all the time with this crap.
Difficult Parents of Complicated Needs Kids get upset when it’s mentioned, but they’re a lot like your average Democrat nattering about black school performance: you need to spend whatever it takes for my kid to have the same result as the normie kids. Unlike black parents, they’re in the front row at every school committee meeting.
Judging by what I’ve seen at meetings, the “whatever it takes” amount is somewhere between 25% and infinity.
Thanks for the reply.Replies: @ScarletNumber
(The knobs were at the top of the tank, and you pulled them straight up. It's probably totally different now, considering how fast design changes in that country.)
We have them in our rural Midwestern apartment now. Whether one gets caught on them depends on the angle of the door when open to one's path when walking by. Of the ten in our place (i.e., on five doors), only two or three pose this problem. We're mostly okay. But, yeah, it's happened to us.Replies: @anon, @SaneClownPosse, @Right_On
In a Parisian suburban home, the flush trigger was a push down button.
“Making New York welcoming to weirdos…”
E.g., https://twitter.com/NYCMayorsOffice/status/1511002489788805123
I wonder how many bums turn up there claiming to be transgender.
Too slow, IMO, but a nice job as part of a concept album. This one by BTO is just pure rock. The lyrics don’t make a lot of sense, but who cares?
From the You Can't Make This Up Department. (It deserves its own iSteve essay here.)
I'd suggest the headline "You can't keep a good man down." or "It's a Black Thing, you wouldn't understand."
(NEWSER) – Rapper Markelle Morrow, better known as "Goonew," joined friends and relatives for a party in a Washington, DC, nightclub Sunday—more than two weeks after his death. The 24-year-old was propped up on stage at the Bliss nightclub, wearing designer clothes and a crown, USA Today reports. Morrow was fatally shot on March 18 in District Heights, Maryland; no arrests have been made. Video of the nightclub event has gone viral, and while some critics are calling the celebration of Morrow's life disturbing and inappropriate, relatives say it's exactly how they wanted to honor him.
"We don’t care about anybody and what ya'll have to say negative. Nobody. We don’t care," sister Arianna Morrow tells Fox 5. "They’re like, I know his mama wouldn’t approve of that. Yeah, she did, she was on stage with us." Mother Patrice Morrow says she buried her son on Monday. "I'm pleased with how I sent my son away," she says. "I wish people would just let me grieve in peace." Morrow's relatives say they worked with the nightclub and the funeral home to arrange the event, though Bliss says it was "never made aware of what would transpire." The nightclub has apologized to anybody who was "upset or offended."Replies: @Anon, @kaganovitch
You can’t post that without a photo!
Not all Europeans.
Cisgendered male (born with a penis):
Cisgendered female (born with a vagina):
Judging by what I've seen at meetings, the "whatever it takes" amount is somewhere between 25% and infinity.Replies: @Jim Don Bob
I’m still not clear what a Complicated Needs Kids is. Are we talking the Short Bus kids?
Thanks for the reply.
Once Muffy or Biff gets classified, they have the force of federal law in order to make their teachers bend over backwards to make them happy.
From the You Can't Make This Up Department. (It deserves its own iSteve essay here.)
I'd suggest the headline "You can't keep a good man down." or "It's a Black Thing, you wouldn't understand."
(NEWSER) – Rapper Markelle Morrow, better known as "Goonew," joined friends and relatives for a party in a Washington, DC, nightclub Sunday—more than two weeks after his death. The 24-year-old was propped up on stage at the Bliss nightclub, wearing designer clothes and a crown, USA Today reports. Morrow was fatally shot on March 18 in District Heights, Maryland; no arrests have been made. Video of the nightclub event has gone viral, and while some critics are calling the celebration of Morrow's life disturbing and inappropriate, relatives say it's exactly how they wanted to honor him.
"We don’t care about anybody and what ya'll have to say negative. Nobody. We don’t care," sister Arianna Morrow tells Fox 5. "They’re like, I know his mama wouldn’t approve of that. Yeah, she did, she was on stage with us." Mother Patrice Morrow says she buried her son on Monday. "I'm pleased with how I sent my son away," she says. "I wish people would just let me grieve in peace." Morrow's relatives say they worked with the nightclub and the funeral home to arrange the event, though Bliss says it was "never made aware of what would transpire." The nightclub has apologized to anybody who was "upset or offended."Replies: @Anon, @kaganovitch
The 24-year-old was propped up on stage at the Bliss nightclub, wearing designer clothes and a crown
As the great Rowan Atkinson has it “Bright green…. and beginning to smell.”
>In our last episode
No.
>words
No.
>has it ever been argued before
Yeah, every day on 4chan’s /tv/ board.
I hope she breaks them! Not because any of her claims have merit…..just because!
Dr. Shit Fun Chew, Undersung Scientist
Nice smile. I'd let her aerate my lungfish.
https://improbable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sfchew.jpgReplies: @fish
Jesus Reg….a link for every contingency!
There is this related discussion (note the lawyer suing small businesses about this under the ADA) here.
http://billwalterlocksmith.com/knobs-vs-levers/
I am curious because I really like the analogy in that NYT comment:And am trying to explore it a bit.
Does such a tool exist? The solutions I am seeing are notable for all requiring changes at the door rather than being a tool one can carry.
https://ability411.ca/answer/door-knob-grips-what-tool-will-help-my-client-grip-standard-round-door-knobs-more-easily
https://www.soss.com/opening-a-door-is-not-an-easy-task-for-everyone/
Would a strap wrench (or variant) work?
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1789/9507/products/34727_photo.jpgReplies: @kaganovitch, @Achmed E. Newman, @PiltdownMan
It’s worth looking for Leverons—I think that’s what the brand name is— if you can find them at a reasonable price. It’s an adjustable plastic collar that fits over a spherical door knob and has a lever handle.
Not horribly expensive. Mr. Bezos will let you have them for 28.95 for a set of 2.
https://www.amazon.com/Leveron-Door-Lever-Adapter-Package/dp/B074HDRKY5
(The knobs were at the top of the tank, and you pulled them straight up. It's probably totally different now, considering how fast design changes in that country.)
We have them in our rural Midwestern apartment now. Whether one gets caught on them depends on the angle of the door when open to one's path when walking by. Of the ten in our place (i.e., on five doors), only two or three pose this problem. We're mostly okay. But, yeah, it's happened to us.Replies: @anon, @SaneClownPosse, @Right_On
knobs on every toilet tank
Hate it when they’ve got two knobs, or a divided knob, on top. Which one do I press? Or should I activate both? Decisions, decisions, . . .
Now when I was a lad, they had pull-chains on toilets, as the water tank was up high. (So greater impact when the water hits the mess, no?) I see they’re making a comeback with fans of retro cod-Victoriana.
No.
>words
No.
>has it ever been argued before
Yeah, every day on 4chan's /tv/ board.Replies: @propagandist hacker
Link?
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.Replies: @Anonymous, @Reg Cæsar, @HammerJack, @Ben tillman, @Anon
They get pants pockets, too. That can be expensive.
I once ruined a perfectly good leather jacket when I slipped and the metal lever caught the edge of my garment, tearing a hole right through it. I was fancy soft goatskin, not my much harder biker/bomber jacket.
I have banned them from my homes.Replies: @Anonymous, @Reg Cæsar, @HammerJack, @Ben tillman, @Anon
The belt loops on my Levi’s are the perfect height to catch on those lever doorhandles. I’ve lost several belt loops to them. If only I were taller. Or shorter.
Also you can ask your dog to come over and open it for you.
Yes, I agree.
LOL
“[Y’all]Correctly used to refer to a group of people, not a single person.”
Who cares about correct usage when forced to refer to or, even worse, address a freak like that? “Y’all” is more than good enough for them.
Back around 1990, I moved to a college town where I was soon informed that I had “offended the women of Columbia [MO]”. (I’d only met a couple dozen in a town with a total pop. of 69,000.) Apparently I had referred to them as “gals”, not “women”. When asked why, I said, I thought it sounded more polite than “**** faces”.
I’m far less concerned with polite address than I was then.
It’s worth looking for Leverons—I think that’s what the brand name is— if you can find them at a reasonable price.
Not horribly expensive. Mr. Bezos will let you have them for 28.95 for a set of 2.
You are a person lacking seriousness, but without the virtue of being a properly silly person.
Perhaps the internet shrinks can weigh in here. Real life situation. 40 something father of three, decides in fact he’s a she. Dumps wife, kids ..
.embarks on path to she-dom. Cool I got breasts, no body hair. Still has dick, perhaps useful with lesbian fiancé.
Backstory. Pretty much useless breadwinner, totally involved in LARP. (My theory this is still rollplaying). Overbearing-mom he/she now resembles. Ineffectual father.
Can’t help but feel he’ll run out of road as he continues to down shift from reality
Didn’t the Chinese emperors require this of their catamites? Lubricated, of course.
Damn! You sound so much like Mason Williams that I’ll be having “Classical Gas” going through my head all day tomorrow.
There has never been “grass-roots” leftist political activism. It’s always from the top down. And Murray Rothbard was right to call it the “welfare-warfare” state. We’ve suffered nearly two million casualties in progressive foreign wars since the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment.
$150/hr minimum wage and 105% marginal tax rate might hurt the “rich shareholders”, but what good will it do the common man? Well, at least he’ll have room, board, and healthcare once the progressives conscript him.
The biggest economic issue of the last sixty years has been immigration. That is taken up only by those on the right. The hard right.
After that, it’s inflation. Again…
Dieter Kief, I meant to ask you about this. I hope you stocked up a bit as hopefully the full 50% will be temporary. (?)Replies: @Franz
The article says 30 to 50 percent, below. There’s probably a more detailed article than at Workout World but this is where I found it.
Penetrating injury of the hand with a door handle: a case report
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2615031/
That is very true. I blame that company that developed that ML system that predicted that black men were more likely to reoffend than other people. Since then whole careers have been built on preventing ML from spotting the obvious.
Mysteriously, the same people never get upset that young men pay massively more for car insurance than middle aged women.
Thanks for the reply.Replies: @ScarletNumber
I would say more it’s the kids who are just a level below the smart kids in class and their parents have a tough time accepting that. Therefore, they get Muffy and Biff classified as learning disabled in order to game the system. Black parents actually have more honor than that because they feel Shaniqua and D’Brickashawn would be stigmatized by the label.
Once Muffy or Biff gets classified, they have the force of federal law in order to make their teachers bend over backwards to make them happy.
Can I just get a bit about a woke drill instructor already?
“Private, do you acknowledge your role in upholding the patriarchy?!”
“Sir?”
“DID YOU JUST MISGENDER ME?!!!”
When I go to an American restaurant with other people, male or female, the waiters and waitresses almost always address us as “guys”. I’m old enough so that when that started decades ago, it seemed bizarre to me, as “guys” was a term that definitely did not include “gals”. Slippery slope?
it sounds like she says “fussed up” to me…
Can’t lever handles be adjusted so they point downward? Kinda defeats the convenience, but if it saves an eye or a belt loop!
Here’s a quote from one of the responses that illustrates the whole root of this rotten problem:
No, it’s not “their” problem; it’s HIS problem. Note the singular subject “someone.” The replacement for that word is “a person” or “ONE person.” Ergo, it calls for a singular pronoun, and in this context that pronoun is HE. That’s been the grammatical rule for CENTURIES, and not just in English. Using “he” in this context does not mean that n the unknown or unspecified individual to whom the speaker refers is or must be male. It’s a linquistic convention. Pronouns are someone funny things. We have “he” and “she” as third person singular pronouns referring to male and female humans. We also have “it” which stands in for animals and inanimate objects. However, in the case of the third person plural we have just one pronoun for all three. We don’t have a distinct plural form for “it” so “they” stands in for two men, two women, one or more of each, or two apples or three rocks. Language relies on something called “context.” So, just as the meaning of “they” relies on context, the use of the singular pronoun “he” or its possessive form “his” could mean we’re referring to one known male OR one unknown person. The word always conveys the information that the speaker is discussing ONE known or unknown human being. The singularity of the subject is important context, hence use of “they” or “them” is utterly illogical.
Using “they” in the context of “this unknown or indeterminate human being” is illiterate and sloppy. It must stop. I’m not using a plural pronoun to refer to one person. If forced to use a pronoun other than “he” or “she” in the subjective case or “him” or “her” in the objective case, I will use “it.” Perhaps we could capitalize it when referring to a human being whose gender cannot be determined, but that’s the only concession I’m willing to make to “It.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithee
Also, we should get rid of the overly polite/obsequious usage of plural pronouns for addressing a single person.
Thou, thee, thy, thine are far superior to you'se, y'all, all-y'all, etc. for making a distinction between addressing an individual and addressing a group.Replies: @VivaLaMigra
Those are second person formal pronouns, not plural forms of the “you/your/yours” set of pronouns. Foreign languages still have those; the one I have a passing familiarity with is German. Modern English dropped them. I agree with stopping the ludicrous use of plural pronouns for one person, but the actual subject of the thread is the use of gender-based bonoraria, namely “Sir” or “Madam,” the latter generally shortened to “Ma’am.”
Speaking of the latter, I’m reminded of an incident where a US military officer of flag rank was testifying before the US Senate and Diane Feinstein took offense at his use of “Ma’am” in addressing her. He was merely following accepted military protocol; one’s superiors are addressed as “Sir” or “Ma’am” and since the armed forces of this constitutional republic are under ultimate civilian authority, military personnel address members of Congress as their superiors. Of course, you can hardly expect a Democrat to have enough intelligence to grasp that his use of “Ma’am” was thus more deferential than using “Senator.”
Starbucks even 12 or 15 years ago was becoming very touchy about “gender” issues. They were extremely angry with my “attitude” when I straightforwardly admitted in one mystery-shopping report that I simply could not identify whether the supervisor on duty was male or female — and believe me I spent extra time lurking around trying to decide. (The location had numerous service and maintenance issues, making the situation even more tense). Damn, if only he/she had been wearing a nametag
The Australian "mate" is also omnisexual.
Though both those suggestions are too practical, conciliatory and functional; something like the unisex "snowflake", "fucko", or "c*nt" might be more appropriate for these irritating wendies.Replies: @VivaLaMigra
I’m in the South now, at least in the winters, and “Honey” is a form of address frequently used here. I think it’s kind’a charming.
You don't have to agree. But your verbs should.Replies: @sayless
Sometimes dissociated people will unconsciously refer to themselves as “we”. The verbs always agree.
Agree with you there, Ghost of Bull Moose. The waiter “retreated”, she called it “funny.” Servers in restaurants are easy targets.
I think it would be a tight race.
That doesn’t always work, K.F. The name tag could say “Pat”. I kid you not, that I ran into exactly this with a National Park Service, errr.. person, well after that Saturday Night Live skit. It was uncanny. This Pat was nice and helpful, but I never found out.
Nicknamed “Broken”.
average ethical ML reasearcher has 110IQ. hard midwits.
Sa’am
Sa’ar
Mim
Sim
Ma’ar
Si’am
Yo
Your queerulousness
Yo yo yo
My ninja
Theyallity
Y’all
You’uns
Yuns
Starshine
Humdingerer
Moondark
Skyshine
Mix
Uneekness
Hunka hunka burnin’ them
All that and a bag a chips
Theyby (pronounced they-be)
All y’all
Comrade
FriendMy favorite:
Your personality disorderlinessWhat are your suggestions?Replies: @The Germ Theory of Disease, @Gordo, @Chrisnonymous, @Reg Cæsar
Mr Ma might object to this. Not to mention the folks at Duncan.
I don’t think this is what Helen Reddy had in mind with “I am woman, hear me roar”.
Hate it when they've got two knobs, or a divided knob, on top. Which one do I press? Or should I activate both? Decisions, decisions, . . .
Now when I was a lad, they had pull-chains on toilets, as the water tank was up high. (So greater impact when the water hits the mess, no?) I see they're making a comeback with fans of retro cod-Victoriana.Replies: @Reg Cæsar
On the Danish ones, the knob was pulled. Straight up. Perhaps these were a 1980s eco-fad, but they were ubiquitous in the country then. Still, why is it so hard to find a picture online?
I sure hope we can eliminate all these micro-aggressions so we can move on to the nano-aggressions.
Using "they" in the context of "this unknown or indeterminate human being" is illiterate and sloppy. It must stop. I'm not using a plural pronoun to refer to one person. If forced to use a pronoun other than "he" or "she" in the subjective case or "him" or "her" in the objective case, I will use "it." Perhaps we could capitalize it when referring to a human being whose gender cannot be determined, but that's the only concession I'm willing to make to "It."Replies: @Pat Kittle
Chromosomes don’t lie.
Speaking of the latter, I'm reminded of an incident where a US military officer of flag rank was testifying before the US Senate and Diane Feinstein took offense at his use of "Ma'am" in addressing her. He was merely following accepted military protocol; one's superiors are addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" and since the armed forces of this constitutional republic are under ultimate civilian authority, military personnel address members of Congress as their superiors. Of course, you can hardly expect a Democrat to have enough intelligence to grasp that his use of "Ma'am" was thus more deferential than using "Senator." Replies: @Anonymous
Thou is informal, you is the formal.