English has a long history of pickpocketing other languages for spare vocabulary...
The full quote:
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -- James Nicoll (1990)
"cis-gender" holds no malice for me. It's who I am, but it's not a value judgement - just as I hold no value judgement for or against transgender people. A few of them are friends of mine, and part of why I get uppity about the rights of all people to associated with whom and how they wish. (A few others of them are.... not as much worth my time. Just as with cis-gender people.)
Now, when you start throwing *connotation* into the mix, that's when things get ugly. Of course, most folks who start throwing connotation and judgment into the mix wouldn't use a word as ... non-confrontational? that's not right, but it's in the right direction... as "trans-gender".... and if somebody's using "cis-gender" and looking down their nose, perhaps their own knapsack needs upending.
Not that I think gender is precisely completely an either-or thing, either, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.
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Re: A lot of responses crammed together.
The full quote:
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
-- James Nicoll (1990)
"cis-gender" holds no malice for me. It's who I am, but it's not a value judgement - just as I hold no value judgement for or against transgender people. A few of them are friends of mine, and part of why I get uppity about the rights of all people to associated with whom and how they wish. (A few others of them are.... not as much worth my time. Just as with cis-gender people.)
Now, when you start throwing *connotation* into the mix, that's when things get ugly. Of course, most folks who start throwing connotation and judgment into the mix wouldn't use a word as ... non-confrontational? that's not right, but it's in the right direction... as "trans-gender".... and if somebody's using "cis-gender" and looking down their nose, perhaps their own knapsack needs upending.
Not that I think gender is precisely completely an either-or thing, either, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.