[GoldHeart]

I think it's a load of rubbish .
Sam Smith is male & he's been called HE & HIM all the time & all of a sudden he wants to feel special & wants a new label. I'm not calling him something different .

How exactly can you call an individual "they" & "them" , it's ridiculous you only say that if it's a group of people or something.

And I've noticed some of these "non binary" people pick & choose when to be offended.

Sam Smith can say he feels like a woman or is in touch with his feminine side etc ,but he is still a man .

If someone wants to identify as a table or bench ,what do we call them ?? .

[Glenn.]

You call them a table or a bench?

[Saph]

I feel like this is only annoying because its sam smith whos always been an attention seeker

the fact that he made this announcement on the same day everyone was talking about Jesy just makes me think its so intentional

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Glenn.

You call them a table or a bench?

Are you being serious?

People already get confused & misgender people.

Even unisex is getting mixed into this non binary silliness.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Saph

I feel like this is only annoying because its sam smith whos always been an attention seeker

the fact that he made this announcement on the same day everyone was talking about Jesy just makes me think its so intentional

I think this "non binary" thing is a trending label for a lot of people and it's used for the sake of it , if you called them male or female they probably wouldn't even care until they decide to suddenly be offended to make a silly point

I think it's just confusing things further with the whole gender neutral & unisex thing getting mixed in . And people already get misgendered , so if they don't want to be identified as either then that just muddles it up even more

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Cherie

My question is how would you know that they were non binary in order to address them in the correct way. Will they have to inform any new person they meet immediately, seems a whole load of hassle, personally doesn't bother me what people identify as but I can see issue with this of people being labelled bigots because there is no way of knowing the person is identifying as non binary unless its the first thing that comes out of their mouth when they meet you, obviously its okay for Sam Smith because he is relatively famous but what about poor Bloggs in the street

anyone got an answer to this?

[Jordan.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

anyone got an answer to this?

Pronoun badges are becoming more common

[user104658]

Meh. I think anyone has the right to be referred to however they want, in principle. I think they/them poses a slight problem because those pronouns already have a specific meaning for collective/plural... So also using it to refer to someone individually unnecessarily complicates things? In normal usage if you hear they/them you assume that multiple people are the subject of the statement .

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Cherie

anyone got an answer to this?

I'm not calling an individual "they" or "them" it sounds stupid . And I will continue to call Sam Smith HE & HIM .

I've heard people call non binary people "they " & "them" & it sounds like bad grammar or as if it's about a group of people as in plural .

[MB.]

The use of the singular 'they' dates back to 14th century English, but go off I guess

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by MB.

The use of the singular 'they' dates back to 14th century English, but go off I guess

Pretty sure when people usually refer to "they" or "them" it's plural & it just complicates & confuses things if non binary people now want to be called that . But you go off I guess .

[MB.]

Again, it's not a new thing

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by MB.

Again, it's not a new thing

Language gets altered to fit with the times , but you can't now decide to use "they" & "them" in singular form when it's currently used as plural .But whatever .

When I use "they" & "them" I'm talking about a group of people or something.

[Cherie]

Yes ‘they’ or ‘them’ is a plural, minefield for anyone learning a language especially when you can’t identify by just looking at the person

There was a guy in Sunday politics today who referred to Sam Smith as a hero, then he backtracked to say well he couldn’t actually call them that because that inferred they were male, so even the woke people have issues with it

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by MB.

The use of the singular 'they' dates back to 14th century English, but go off I guess

Yes but that was as a nonspecific or general use, not as a personal pronoun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Older_usage

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Jordan.

Pronoun badges are becoming more common

Really? I travel into London a lot and never seen one of these, what does the badge say

[Black Dagger]

Lmao this thread on just page 1 is a joke.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Yes ‘they’ or ‘them’ is a plural, minefield for anyone learning a language especially when you can’t identify by just looking at the person

There was a guy in Sunday politics today who referred to Sam Smith as a hero, then he backtracked to say well he couldn’t actually call them that because that inferred they were male, so even the woke people have issues with it

You could also argue that the word "Hero" get's thrown around , when the original meaning of the word was someone who's done something outstanding ,brave and usually risked their life for others in a selfless way.

Then with the whole sexism thing, people tried to call Female role models "heroine" ,but i don't think we always need to be soo specific about male & female pronouns when it comes to that as a female can still be called a hero i would say .

So i just think of Sam smith as an attention seeker who's clinging to another label .