4 ms·

We're supposed to modify our English because there's some vague accusation that some foreigners somewhere are doing something? I don't get it.

lolinder 3y ago
I'm not saying anyone should modify their speech. I'm saying some people in the US are modifying their speech based on what they've been told the connotations of the word "people" are. As I noted above, there are no such connotations in standard American English, so the speech modification is purely performative. Re: foreigners, this whole discussion is very US-centric, when I say "dialects" I'm talking about different varieties of US English, not anything outside the US.
- fluidcruft 3y ago
  OP is directly asking me to modify my speech with some ridiculous link to Obama. And then you said it signals one side of "the culture war" and you're just completely vague about what war you're talking about and which side it signals. You do mention "folx" which I have only rarely encountered and I figured was one of those dumb socially engineered unhuman words that nobody (particularly the people it refers to) actually uses such as "latinx". But the title of the post doesn't even use "folx".
  - amenhotep 3y ago
    Do you use folks naturally, or do you use it because you've been told people is offensive? In neither of those cases is the OP asking you to modify your natural speech; he is fine with the first case, and in the second case he is telling you not to modify your speech based on what others have said about it! If you naturally use it because you genuinely believe people is offensive, then he's absolutely telling you to modify your speech, but that is because he thinks you are wrong and you are the problem and he directly disagrees with you and he's not shy about it, which I think is fine. There's no pretence at neutrality there, and if you are neutral then he's not saying what you think.
    - fluidcruft 3y ago
      People is not offensive and neither is folks. No offense but what bizarro world are you all living in?

lolinder 3y ago

I'm not saying anyone should modify their speech. I'm saying some people in the US are modifying their speech based on what they've been told the connotations of the word "people" are. As I noted above, there are no such connotations in standard American English, so the speech modification is purely performative. Re: foreigners, this whole discussion is very US-centric, when I say "dialects" I'm talking about different varieties of US English, not anything outside the US.

fluidcruft 3y ago
OP is directly asking me to modify my speech with some ridiculous link to Obama. And then you said it signals one side of "the culture war" and you're just completely vague about what war you're talking about and which side it signals. You do mention "folx" which I have only rarely encountered and I figured was one of those dumb socially engineered unhuman words that nobody (particularly the people it refers to) actually uses such as "latinx". But the title of the post doesn't even use "folx".
- amenhotep 3y ago
  Do you use folks naturally, or do you use it because you've been told people is offensive? In neither of those cases is the OP asking you to modify your natural speech; he is fine with the first case, and in the second case he is telling you not to modify your speech based on what others have said about it! If you naturally use it because you genuinely believe people is offensive, then he's absolutely telling you to modify your speech, but that is because he thinks you are wrong and you are the problem and he directly disagrees with you and he's not shy about it, which I think is fine. There's no pretence at neutrality there, and if you are neutral then he's not saying what you think.
  - fluidcruft 3y ago
    People is not offensive and neither is folks. No offense but what bizarro world are you all living in?