Gender neutral language in English: Difference between revisions
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* '''Nesser.''' Non-standard genderqueer term for "daughter/son".<ref name="titles queeries" /> | * '''Nesser.''' Non-standard genderqueer term for "daughter/son".<ref name="titles queeries" /> | ||
* '''Offspring.''' Neutral, standard word, but not usually used for people, except in legal language. | * '''Offspring.''' Neutral, standard word, but not usually used for people, except in legal language. | ||
* '''Oldest.''' Neutral, a way of speaking of one's offspring by saying "my oldest, | * '''Oldest/First-born.''' Neutral, a way of speaking of one's offspring by saying "my oldest" or "first-born", rather than saying "my daughter/son."<ref name="titles queeries" /> | ||
* '''Progeny.''' Neutral, means offspring. | * '''Progeny.''' Neutral, means offspring. | ||
* '''Second-born.''' Neutral, a way of speaking of one's offspring by saying "my second-born," rather than saying "my daughter/son." Also works for third-, fourth-, or fifth-born, etc. <ref name="titles queeries" /> | * '''Second-born.''' Neutral, a way of speaking of one's offspring by saying "my second-born," rather than saying "my daughter/son." Also works for third-, fourth-, or fifth-born, etc. <ref name="titles queeries" /> | ||
* '''Scion.''' Neutral, means offspring. | |||
* '''Spawn.''' Neutral, means offspring. | |||
* '''Sprog.''' Neutral, crude word for a young person.<ref name="titles queeries" /><ref name="Lane-glossary" /> | * '''Sprog.''' Neutral, crude word for a young person.<ref name="titles queeries" /><ref name="Lane-glossary" /> | ||
* '''Youth.''' Neutral, poetic word for a young person, but usually implied to be male. | * '''Youth.''' Neutral, poetic word for a young person, but usually implied to be male. | ||
Revision as of 21:07, 28 August 2024
Gender neutral language in English is easier than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in many other languages, because its grammatical gender is less pervasive than in, say, German or French. See the main article on gender neutral language for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for nonbinary people.
History
Although English has grammatical gender, it's only a vestige of what it once had. Old English once had grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but this practice started to disappear in the 700s, and vanished in the 1200s. The population of England at that time spoke several languages, and the same inanimate objects had different genders in those different languages. They may have stopped using that part entirely just to make it simpler. English stopped using grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but it still uses grammatical gender for people