Wednesday 22 November 2017

No, Virginia, Changes To Language AREN'T A Problem

Some stray thoughts prompted by people I work with arguing it's hard to learn new pronouns or avoid deadnaming those who have transitioned.

This argument always makes me think of my friend Cat. How she doesn't really like it when you call her Catherine. Because Catherine might be the name on her birth certificate, but she much prefers Cat. Cat is the name she chose for herself, like my friend Kat, and my friend Katy, and my friend Katie, and my friend Katey, and Katee Sackhoff, and Kitty Barne.

They all were born with a name that sounds the same, but that's not the name they'd like you to call them. Just like I want to be Ric, not Rik (though Rik Mayall did) or Dick (though Dick Van Dyke does) or Ricky (though Ricky Steamboat does) or Rich (though Rich Hall does) or Dicky (though Dicky Barrett does) or Richard (though Richard E Grant does).

And my question is this. If we get that Cat and Kat and Katy and Katie and Katey and Katee and Kitty don't want to be called Catherine/Katherine/Cathryn, and we get that Ric and Rik and Dick and Ricky and Rich and Dicky don't or didn't want to be called Richard, when why the HELL are so many people pretending new pronouns or the concept of deadnames are so unbearably confusing it would cause society to collapse into chaos if we agreed to abide by them?

When someone calls me Richard and I correct them, they say "sorry". They don't say "But Richard's your real name, isn't it?". They don't say "You just look more like a Richard to me." They just apologise and try to remember my preference.

Is it just MAYBE POSSIBLE that people's gender identity shouldn't be treated as less important than people wanting to be known by their nickname?

Friday 17 November 2017

Geek Syndicate Review: Seventh Decimate

My review of Stephen Donaldson's latest fantasy novel, the first part of a planned trilogy, is up at Geek Syndicate now.

Thursday 9 November 2017

Infinite Diversity, Finite Combinations 4.1.9

The amazing thing about "Move Along Home" isn't that it's a shitty episode based around nothing more than a weird alien board game. It's that the weird alien board game that's central to the episode is also shit.

Thursday 2 November 2017

Infinite Diversity, Finite Combinations 3.1.9

Q's back, and he wants you to roll up some stats for his awesome new RPG game: French Pig-Men Shoot At You For No Reason.