pronouns gone mad

[Laurence Horn]

On May 7, 2014, at 3:21 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> Makes me wonder just whose claws the cat was using to "knead[] your
> thighs".  And whether the cat was in a (perhaps intermediate)
> transsexual state.
>
> Joel

Or alternatively whether it might have been a Schrödinger's kitten, both male and female under the box is opened and its sex is determined.

LH
>
> At 5/7/2014 01:06 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>> You've clearly never had a cat with multiple personality disorder.  Ableist!
>>
>> LH
>>
>>
>> On May 7, 2014, at 11:01 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> > God forbid your gendered pronouns make you into an unwitting sexist.
>> >
>> > Arden Moore of Yahoo! today:
>> >
>> > "If you need a sign it is time to trim your cat's nails, nothing is clearer
>> > than when he perches on your lap, purrs and starts kneading your thighs
>> > with her front paws. But this is also a sign of affection. Experts say that
>> > this action beckons your adult cat back to a safe, welcoming memory when
>> > she was nuzzling his mother for milk as a newborn kitten. He is being
>> > affectionate and a bit nostalgic. "
>> >
>> >
>> > Back in the eighties I had one or two freshman who did this - out of
>> > thousands - before being corrected.
>> >
>> > Now it's a  bylined Web correspondent.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org