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I am not a native English speaker and I have sometimes referred to people as male and female (as that is what I have been taught) but I have received some backlash in some cases, especially for the word "female", is there some negative thought in the word which I am unaware of?

I don't know if this is the best place to ask, if it's not appropriate I have no problem to delete it ^^

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[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 70 points 1 year ago

And to go out of your way to avoid saying “woman” makes you sound like some kind of incel weirdo, and you don’t want that.

I'd just like to emphasise this. It's not that using a different term is intrinsically bad, it's just that the people who tend to do it are not cool and you don't want to look like you're associated with them.

[-] dandroid@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When I was growing up, saying woman was offensive, because it made people feel old. So we would say "girl". But now It's flipped. Saying "girl" makes people feel too young, apparently.

I'm still kind of adjusting. The word "woman" still feels icky to me because I was berated for saying it as a kid.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

Huh, interesting. Which generation are you from, out of curiosity?

[-] dandroid@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

I'm a millennial. It could also have been regional as well, I have no clue.

[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

It's ridiculous that a perfectly fine word is seen as insult used by a certain type of people.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 year ago

If it has negative connotations, it's not a perfectly fine word.

[-] Pulptastic@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Negative connotations to whom? If those described do not like the term it should not be used. Basic human dignity, just like using one's preferred pronouns.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't think you're disagreeing with me here.

[-] Silentiea@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Welcome to language my friend. Always has, always will.

[-] Quastamaza@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Meanwhile, you are perfectly ok with judging someone based uniquely on which term they tend to use? Oh my, mankind is really going down the drain…

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 35 points 1 year ago

Yes. Life is a game of trying to guess which people are full of shit. If they say "feeeemales" and then turn out to be fine, great, I'll probably give them a heads up not to do that.

Was there a non-judgmental era I'm unaware of?

[-] Quastamaza@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Ok, fine, I'll "try to guess" too then, if that's your game. Goodbye!

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Yes. Language can show what sort of media people consume and the sorts of groups they socialize with, especially when it comes to the internet.

If someone is using incel language, there will be a strong initial assumption they spend time within incel circles consuming toxic content like Andrew Tate and will remain under that assumption until proven otherwise. Sorry, not sorry?

this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024
279 points (100.0% liked)

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