this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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[โ€“] isyasad@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

I think it's interesting that 4chan has invented "anon" as, functionally, a naturally occurring genderless neopronoun. I would argue even more genderless than xe/xim because while xe/xim was created in relation to gender, anon was created with no connection to gender at all. Xe/xim is "not he or she" whereas anon is he, she, they, xe, or anything else.
There's other words as well (homie, oomfie, bestie) that are functionally genderless neopronouns although these (and anon) are commonly used alongside gendered pronouns eg: anon posted his greentext on 4chan, I visited bestie and her dog.
Now I'm not recommending that anybody starts using anon/bestie pronouns or anything, cause if bestie wants to do that then bestie will have to deal with how awkward it sounds. But, I'm generally more partial towards these absolutely genderless naturally-occurring neopronouns over the relatively genderless constructed xe/xim. And I'm curious if anybody else has thoughts about these.

edit: mods what did you do to my parents ๐Ÿ˜ญ

My thoughts on the second point: I find that constructed neopronouns (particularly any of them that use the letter x) and bespoke pronouns (like "drag" as mentioned before) have an air of immaturity to them that make it difficult for me to take seriously. I also tend to find them aesthetically displeasing. I also don't think it makes sense for bespoke pronouns to be considered "pronouns" in the same way common, neo, and the aforementioned (what I'm now going to call) slang pronouns are, because by their very nature they refer to a specific individual rather than being a word that can be readily applied to a great many individuals.

As for my thoughts on the first point, I hadn't ever thought of those words as pronouns, but after thinking about it, it makes sense to me.