• Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    Repeat your argument when the concept of Mr and Mrs were introduced.

    Language evolves as we learn new things. Computer used to refer to a person. “We have floppy discs, so why make a new name for CDs?”

    • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      They weren’t introduced in anything like an analogous way. Mr and Mrs evolved slowly over decades and even centuries from older forms referring to master and mistress.

      I don’t have a strong opinion about Mx either way, but as an amateur linguistics nerd I can assure you that the way it’s been introduced to our lexicon is very different from these much older terms.

      • Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        How slowly was the introduction of the word covid? As a linguist, the change of language is the fascination.

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yep, language flows and changes over long periods of time, not through a court order or “marginalized” people screaming “we want our own pronoun that we just came up with to be culturally except! If you don’t comply, you are an insensitive asshole!”

      • Star@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        The argument is “Mr and Mrs are established in society. It is stupid to add Mx.”

        Floppy discs were well established. Was it stupid to add CD to our vocabulary?

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Actually the floppy part of the disk is inside the plastic case. It’s a floppy piece of magnetic tape.

        But that’s a great example of how language evolves - people don’t even know what the name means, and yet they know what it is.