4 ms·

I've never heard "the pronoun game" but I know I have a habit of over-writing to avoid it. (Or maybe I'm writing just enough.)

• tzs 5y ago
  OT: this is completely off topic, but I'd kind of like to see an effort to take advantage of the current reexamination that is taking place in some circles over the issue of gendered pronouns to just fix the whole damn pronoun system. We need a set of pronouns, which I'll call P1, P2, P3, ... for now to avoid having to think of names for them, that are based on position. P1 refers to the first thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, P2 refers to the second thing in the sentence that could be referred to by a pronoun, and so on. We also might need a set of pronouns N1, N2, ... that refer to the last thing before the sentence that could take a pronoun, the next to last thing before the sentence that can take a pronoun, and so on.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• Izkata 5y ago
  "The pronoun game" isn't "using pronouns without context" as GP said, it's avoiding the use of pronouns at all (sometimes even "they" as that could be interpreted as avoidance, depending on how you usually talk) to avoid giving the listener any details about the person being talked about. It was (maybe still is?) common with LGBT people to refer to their boyfriend/girlfriend/partner in a way that didn't draw attention with friends, family, or co-workers that they weren't out to, who might not take it well.
  • saalweachter 5y ago
    The pronoun game also refers to a movie trope where ambiguity is used intentionally in story telling. E.g., every time someone says something like "he's dead", and the viewer - or even another character in the scene - immediately shouts "who!?!".