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[cangetmad]

Okay, let's do it. "No gendered pronouns" day is next Wednesday, 11th July.

Everyone taking part defines their own limits; everyone promises to post about how it's going/ how it went for them.

Poll No gendered pronouns day

Quick edit to add: here's the post for linking any write-ups of your experiences in taking part.

Comments

[traballenguas]

Hmmm. in Catalan this is going to be a real bear. Maybe I can just point and grunt. "This person" is feminine, so I may be reduced to referring to people as "that" (although "that" is masculine - whoops).

Oh my.

[cangetmad]

Eek! I'll be really fascinated to know how you get on - definining limits for you might be that you're not going to use gender-identifying pronouns, wheras gendered ones that can refer to any sex are OK?

[traballenguas]

Hmm. I proposed to gair that I just speak in Ido for the day, but that will be hard, since I don't speak Ido.

I am getting a little confused. What would be an example of not using gender-identifying pronouns? "The person that was here a minute ago"? "You" and "me" are not gendered (not in Catalan either, except in the plural).

I know, I could use slang! Like, calling every one "cat" or "frood" or something.

[cangetmad]

For me, I think "he" and "she" are the main issue, though I'll also be trying to avoid other words that are gender-identifying ("man" etc).

But also, I am so calling people "cat".

[traballenguas]

Meow!

The thing that really sucks about Catalan is that even using proper names, you don't say "Robert", you often say "el Robert" or "la Cecilia". In the third person I can use "li" for everything, which is not really correct, but I am a foreigner, so they will cut me some slack.

It sounds like a fun challenge, though. As an English speaker, it is a huge struggle to shoehorn the idea of gendering everything (including inanimate objects) into your head, it will be interesting to see if I can shoehorn it out from the inside.