[A]t last there is a sensible Western country. I am so pleased to know that people still fear God and not like modern day Europe, seriously a Swedish school banned the use of gender related pronouns like he, she, him etc. keeping in mind the LGBTs and France says that reference to mother and father must be done away with. Is it not the beginning of an apocalypse?
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My understanding of Finnish, which I acknowledge isn’t all it could be, is that there is no such thing as a gender related pronoun.
I won’t get into detail about the confusion that can cause to a native English speaker - somebody who’s struggling to learn the language anyway!
Sorry, where is this 'sensible Western country'? And how is fearing something that does not, and could not exist, sensible?
@Kulgur: Finland might perhaps be used as an example of language not being all that controlling a factor in culture. Finnish has no gender-specific pronouns, yet the country and culture is no utopia of equality between the genders --- about on a par with most of northern Europe, in fact, perhaps slightly behind Sweden in that respect. so this fundy's storming in a teacup anyways.
[A]t last there is a sensible Western country.
What country are they talking about, Uganda?
Is it not the beginning of an apocalypse?
It is not.
"Is it not the beginning of an apocalypse?"
- Not according to your bible, but then when have the actual words of the bible been more than a matter of curiosity to Christian groupies?
The thing is, Swedish pronouns have 5 grammatical genders: feminine, masculin neutrum, common and indefinite ("one can do so") - which becomes even more idiotic if you consider that they all brake down when the grammatical number becomes anything more than one (plural). So the entire change here is from "the mother" or "the father" to "parent".
Yeah, evil socialists, they dare to use the word "parent"...
“Wait, wait. I think I can explain this whole thing. Marklar, these Marklars want to change your Marklar. They don’t want this Marklar or any of his Marklars to live here because it’s bad for their Marklar. They use Marklar to try and force Marklars to believe their Marklar. If you let them stay here, they will build Marklars and Marklars. They will take all of your Marklars and replace them with Marklars. These Marklars have no good Marklars to live on Marklars so they must come here to Marklar. Please, let these Marklars stay where they can grow and prosper without any Marklars, Marklars or Marklars.” Kyle, South Park "Starvin' Marvin in Space!"
seriously, what's so apocaliptic about that?
He's not making things up, the school is real. He's just bending the truth as it just de-emphasizes gender-specific pronouns. It doesn't ban them.
As an earlier poster said it's a social experiment and it's a private school. The parents participating are aware of it. It's not like their public school system is forcing it on to everyone which is how Heleventia makes it sound.
Complaining about this would be like me complaining that there are home-schoolers who are taught creationism. I may not agree but that's my problem.
In spoken standard Mandarin Chinese, there is no gender distinction in personal pronouns: the pronoun ta (?) can mean "he", "she", or "it".
That's a hell of a lot more people than any European nation.
This nonsense has traction now, it's the third reference to this non event I've seen recently.
The echo chambers just getting started on this one, I expect to hear it from several other wingnuts soon.
Boggles the mind. I watched a Noel Feilding's Luxury Comedy episode yesterday and realized it makes as much sense as end-timers delusion ever do. I blame Ice-Cream Ice.
Mark Twain's essay, "The Awful German Language, is a hilarious take on this subject. (Pay no attention to this recommendation, Heleventia; I know you don't read.)
I'm not qualified to comment on Swedish. But in the US, I don't see a big problem with calling someone a "chairperson" instead of "chairman" or calling someone a "congressional representative" instead of a "congressman".
@Old Viking: that essay is indeed hilarious. I recommend it to everyone.
@ Kulgur
Yeah I know they speak Swedish in Sweden and Finnish (and also Swedish) in Finland.
I was wondering if the original posters head could be made to explode if they learnt that languages exist that don't even have gender related pronouns. That was why I used Finnish as an example.
No, it's the stupidity of a few individuals. Trying to restrict what words people are allowed to use will not work. Offensive, racist and discriminatory words, yes perhaps, but not everyday normal words.
The point is, I believe, that a new word for s/he in Swedish was invented recently ("han" and "hon" was mixed into "hen"). It's a good word to use when you are not talking about a specific person, when you don't know what gender the person has. But it's a bit silly to use it when you are talking about a particular person, who you know to be a male, or a female.
When an average parent is spoken of, it is better, I think, to use the word "parent", than to take for granted that all carers of children are "mothers".
> seriously a Swedish school banned the use of gender related pronouns like he, she, him etc.
About damn time our good neighbours follow the times! We've never had to deal with that shit in Finnish schools.
(Except perhaps in Swedish/English/etc lessons. Because there's no gender-specific pronouns in Finnish language to begin with.)
@Swede : But what about those of us who were raised by people other than our parents? Why are you discriminating against us?!
No, really, I don't care. I managed to get through years of making Mother's and Father's Day things in school and giving them to my grandparents. Shockingly, I still knew who the people raising me were, even though everyone around me tended to say "parents."
But of course, children today are much stupider, and will be confused even if you call their actual parents "parents." How will they ever know which parent is which if you don't say mother and father?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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