trashHeapIts suddenly occurred to me how ive been tripping over backwards for years to try and always call linux by stallman's preferred gnu/linux monicker but he wont use 'they' as someone's preferred pronoun.
That's fucked up when you think about it.
ultem@trashHeap Personally I came to call it she+he to avoid violating English grammar which is most important.
@ultem I came to the conclusion that I should use whatever pronoun is requested. Because being nice is most important.
Targrus, Forever Orc@trashHeap @ultem the English language and it's grammar aren't static. They constantly change and evolve. Not to mention a singular they shows up in writings hundreds of years old as is.
Max@ultem How is that "most important"?
A) You can't hurt grammar's feelings, but you can hurt people.
B) Singular "they" has been documented back to before and including Shakespeare and Middle English grammar. Is the exact same process that "you" became singular (to replace dumb formality-based alternatives no one needed).
@max
I tried to make a dumb joke referencing the RMS copypasta "I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux." RMS wrote the incorrect grammatical claim in the source and I quoted from that.
It was not funny and I forgot the :^) as well, apologies.
I tried to make a dumb joke referencing the RMS copypasta "I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux." RMS wrote the incorrect grammatical claim in the source and I quoted from that.
It was not funny and I forgot the :^) as well, apologies.
@ultem Thank you. Yeah, the tone didn't come across. Humor is hard work on the internet.
emacsomancer (has moved to types.pl)@trashHeap On this point, he's also technically wrong (the worst kind of wrong?). Singular they has been in English since 1375. https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they/
*woof*@trashHeap I wouldn't stop doing it regardless of your personal opinion of RMS, because his, still valid, point was to honor the work of all GNU developers, not just him.