Language . There is often a lot hidden behind a word, and having a good and diverse vocabulary gives the interlocutors a much stronger power of expression. It helps to add nuances , it makes the difference between fun, sarcasm and plain cheekiness, it may give an idea of one’s social and cultural background , origins … sometimes just one word can be enough to 'make it or break it'. Languages are in constant evolution, yet they also follow strict rules of grammar (yes, I know, I am probably butchering the proper english one here in this blog), which is also in constant evolution. It is a constant, yet slow, evolution . This year I found myself in many conversations discussing inclusivity and choice of words. Inclusivity from the gender perspective in particular and the necessity (or lack of) to have gender neutral approaches. Easy in English , where the neutral exist and the adjectives do not conjugate to the gender of the noun. But even then , you cannot call a person an ‘it’ so gender neutrality is ‘they/them’ , which can add to the confusion if English isn’t your first language and you don’t know that potentially you can use that as a singular. I worry (perhaps I overthink) that, if I start using they as singular, an interlocutor won’t get me and may judge my use of plural…
and that’s in English but .. in Italian ? You can write with an * or a schwa at the end but … how would you pronounce either of these two things ? Surely having a language more in tune with societial issues is necessary , but if languages slowly evolve to fit the society , then maybe we are just not ready as a society for this ? Maybe instead of ‘wasting time’ debating it from a language perspective we should see that the idea of gender neutrality is still a very foreign idea for many , and maybe , if I have to be honest , I have some issues grasping the concept myself… And so a similar story applies to the 'winter holidays', which Europe recently suggested to stop mentioning as ‘Christmas’ but simply as 'holidays'. It’s not that I am religious , but the 25th of December is Christmas , then there is the end or the year and again the epiphany, around it we take some holidays. Whether you are religious or not, these are the roots of these time off. Same for Easter. Plus why would you say ‘happy holiday’ ? Maybe we should just avoid greeting , because I never understood why would one say ‘merry Christmas’. Even from a religious point of view. It was 'Jesus' that was born, why would you need to wish me a happy day? Perhaps just an ‘enjoy your time off’ and okay, please let's keep the ‘happy New Year’ because I really believe in that magic that happens at midnight on the 31st of December. Yes you know, the one that cancels all of your past mistakes and gives you all your hopes and dreams a new light, just for that day at least. And if we go back to the idea that society should change first before language and that it may be a slow change , we can apply this generally to other issues of sustainability, and realise that maybe we are not ready. Or worse . We are changing too fast and not understanding the issue and in some cases the words are being fed ‘from above’, new words that are fast becoming meaningless as quick as they are entering our day to day vocabulary, used to greenwash us. Words that have arisen from the part of society that wants us to keep consuming . So my challenge for you is: do some research. When you use a new buzz-phrase: do you know what it means ? Or are you using because it’s trendy ? Do you think adding a * at the end will be really all it takes for including all genders present in the group you are referring to or perhaps there can be some more meaningful actions that can be taken ?
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