May his memory be for a blessing

Reading Bill Labov z”l discuss the respect afforded to the dead, and the ways we (sometimes) feel like we can still communicate with them, is an emotional rollercoaster.

“Man” historically meant “person” and “were” (as in “werewolf”) meant “man.” Now, it’s become so semantically restricted, that older fossilized forms are being replaced because they’re perceived as unnecessarily gendered. Language change is fascinating

Prince was just doing philology

The entire book is like this. When the next generation says that singular they for a specific, named referent doesn’t feel unnatural, they grew up on this. And notice that it’s not a gender thing. If anything, it’s an animacy thing

The entire book is like this. When the next generation says that singular they for a specific, named referent doesn’t feel unnatural, they grew up on this. And notice that it’s not a gender thing. If anything, it’s an animacy thing