Dear Abby,
I’m a Canadian living in America. I occasionally write for a Canadian blog that some might label as “conservative” but I just deem to be full of lots of common sense. This week I’m working remotely out of Chicago, staying at the home of a longtime friend. On Thursday I’ll be attending their Thanksgiving Dinner. I’m very grateful to be included. Attending will be her 21 year old niece, who has declared she is non-binary and uses the pronouns “they/them”. I believe she is mentally ill yet this “identity crisis” is fully supported by her parents and her aunt, all lifelong Democrats.
I don’t feel any obligation to be forced into using pronouns that I believe to be pure delusion. At the same time, I don’t want to offend any of her relatives.
How would you handle yourself in such a situation?
Sane Canuck
P.S. Related video
Show up late, drink heavily, and leave early.
I thought I had a snappy comeback, but I take my hat off to you.
Good advice.
Been there, done that, burned the pictures.
Good one. I personally try to avoid insane people.
V, those are words to live by. Sadly, their numbers are growing, and some days the best I can do is make sure the crazy ones pay their share of the bar tab.
Tell them your pronoun is ‘everyone’, and see how the conversation goes. And yes, ‘everyone’ is a pronoun, an indefinite one. Betcha it goes south in 10 minutes, and it won’t even be your fault.
H
You will always address this confused young person by the first name. However, should said confused young person ask you about pronouns, etc., you should say loudly that you identify as Royalty and your preferred pronouns are “Your Majesty”.
Agree there’s a disconnect between pronouns and address, but doubt the object of your barrage will notice.
Avoid the pronouns and use her name whenever you speak of her. Avoid speaking about her too much, otherwise people will notice you keep repeating her name instead of using a pronouns.
Stay away, and go to a restaurant.
Strippers. He’ll have more fun & less headache in Gynecology Row.
Easy. When the niece shows up, take her into the laundry room, look at her right in the eyes and say:
”Listen here friend. One wokeist word out of you tonight, and you’re getting your ass kicked. ”
Works every time.
I’ve always been of a mind that it’s frightfully impolite to speak of anyone in the third person whenever they are present. So why in a social setting would you ever run afoul of using the “wrong” pronouns?
If she were in a different room, and you asked one of the parents how everyone is doing, and that parent said something like “Eve found a new job. They will be working at McDonald’s”.
And then you’d be wondering if just the niece Eve was working there or if everyone in the family was working there.
And then you’d respond “are they working there or is everyone working there?”
And then the parent would look at you confused as well.
And then you’d run screaming.
“They” would indicate a multiple personality psychosis.
Ignore her
Dear Sane Canuck
WTF are you doing, hanging around GD Democrats? You can do better.
Regards,
Abby
If they are friends that you genuinely care for, just be polite. You wouldn’t use pronouns unless you’re talking about her so it shouldn’t even come up when she’s there.
But if she pushes it, if she asks for your pronouns, just say “I live in the real world”.
Dear Sane Canuck. This never fails to work.
Call her “WENCH”. “Wench, Fetch me some Beer and Turkey you FILTHY LIBERAL”..
She will be eating out of your hands.
You’re welcome.
FL; ‘wench’ is a strictly female term…so yeh, absolutely! 🙂
“Fetch me a skwoodwiver, wench!”
Easy, don’t go.
They/Them? Accuse her of misgendering herself if she does not use We, Us, Our, and Ours when referring to herself.
Remember the old adage, the best way to get rid of a bad law is to ruthlessly apply it. Ditto with pronouns.
Well surely even these pronoun Nazis don’t object to being called “you” in conversation? I am not au courant with the details of this madness. If the person is there at the table, why would you need to use pronouns anyway, but I would just ignore the person as much as possible and keep conversation very generic. I find that shortly after saying “relative humidities haven’t been this high since that wave of selling on the manganese markets last week,” people stop listening and you can then say whatever you want.
Just refer to her as “toots” for the entire evening.
Same as you would do for any broad who deserves it.
It ain’t hard.
The fact that this is an issue at all is indicative of a moribund culture of fa**ots.
Sane Canuck,
Suck it up princess
You can start by announcing your own pronouns, for example (as in my case): Sir, Sir, Sir’s
In response my personal pronoun would be a shouted “MIGHTY ZOLTAR!” or “Your Royal Exaltedness!” Then I would announce that any other address would be an overt micro aggression and an assault upon my inner child. “How dare you!?!?!”
I like “everyone” though. The humor possibilities are endless.
She is playing the individual rights card, so can you. First check from her what she wants to be called, then tell her you are an old grumpy conservative, you find it difficult to do this, she is asking you to become someone else, it is your right to not talk to her, and all this makes you sad.
Announce that you need to chew your food aggressively & with your mouth open to ensure proper digestion.
And that farting at the table is proof of said propriety.
I got to thinking about w other pronouns I could use with my friend’s niece: it/yikes
They/them?? Not in the third person?? Ask if she has a learning handicap. I would phrase it, “Are you some kind of retard?”
Remember that Turdeau gave us the grammatical gem “In All Of Us Command.” He’s a retard and his grammar reflects such retardation and as a retard he expects us to repeat such retard words. Never!
scar, your post gets my vote, and after spewing my tea over the keyboard, I couldn’t stop laughing!
“I would phrase it, Are you some kind of retard?” Hilarious!
May the farce be with you.
Snicker and carry on.
Snap your fingers twice and point directly at her and say “whatsyourname? yeahyou” every time when addressing said personage.
This is a non-problem. They/them, along with he/him, she/her, etc., are third-person pronouns. If you are addressing the niece, you will be using second-person pronouns (you/you/yours). If you are talking about the niece as part of a group which includes you, you’ll be using first-person plural pronouns (we/us/ours). If you are referring to the niece in the third person (this will come up only infrequently if the niece is in the same room as you), use a proper name. Happy Thanksgiving.
Damn, nobody has asked the obvious question. How hot is the niece?
Sure, I’m assuming like most of these types she’s north of 300 pounds with a half-shaved head of green hair, a face tattoo, and 15 pounds of hardware stuck in all the various holes in her body, but you don’t know that for sure!
That’s just past dated icing on a rotting cake. Blech!
I’m with the IGNORE crowd.
It will disappear quickly after dinner into its social media hell world soon enough.
Yes, we have DeMarxist frens too, and must admit, it’s difficult having conversations with them in these times, THEY are the ones who always seem to bring up politics, and we deflect, or go with an “oh yeah”, “oh?”, or “huh” one word answers to stifle the subject. Works pretty well actually, they get the message without conflict.
I would just use “it” if I were ever exposed to that type of lunacy.
Studiously avoid using and ignore the idiotic verbal constructions with which you disagree. Amongst family and friends, I would not go looking for a fight but if someone starts personally attacking me then I will fight back. Which normally does long-lasting damage, perhaps terminal, to the relationship.
Example dialogue:
Niece opens conversation: “Hi, my pronouns are they them”
My response: “Hi, how’s it going? Geez, what a lovely day it was today” i.e. perhaps the niece is just a young person into a fad with otherwise sensible thoughts to talk about
or
Niece opens conversation: “Hi, my pronouns are they them. I’d appreciate it if you used them”
My response: “Hi, since you raise the subject, no offense but I follow the traditional rules of grammar. Now, in order to avoid any unpleasant conflict perhaps we should go find other people with whom to talk with.” i.e. niece is not a person whom I’d like to know better.
I would go.
But I would avoid all controversial topics.
Talk only of totally uncontroversial subjects like the weather.
“Cold enuff for ya” and “hot enuff for ha” are good openers.
??? is anyone else not getting the 5 minute edit period ????
I didn’t for a few posts. Then did for a few. Just now, didn’t.
I have a iPad mini 5. Maybe a IOS bug eh?
This one too. No 5 minute edit period.
My vote is for you to use Who, What, and I Don’t Know as your pronouns. Now that would be fun.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as many SDAers suggest.
I know a mother who is going through this with her mid-twenties daughter and the Mom really struggles with it. She refuses to call her daughter “they/them” or address her by her new “non-binary” name. As a result, the young girl no longer communicates with her Mom because “she doesn’t support my decision”. To make matters worse, many of the mother’s family support this girl’s choice.
It is extremely difficult to experience the heart-break this illness causes a parent.
Topics for tomorrow, from the (seriously deranged) Biden administration.
https://www.westernjournal.com/wh-makes-list-bidens-accomplishments-discuss-thanksgiving-twitter-users-quickly-fix/?ff_source=redirect