“Words Matter” — that’s my mantra for curing “pronoun madness.” Ironically, it’s the same (unexplained, unsupported, and unconvincing) mantra used/misused/abused by the shallow, sad, and see-through advocates of the very pronoun madness I wish to eradicate from our language, especially in public use.
Note: Elsewhere in the Writing Lessons, section of this blog, I will demystify for you the ways of proper pronoun use. There’s a lot more to it than you might suspect. Unless you are already familiar, with expertise, with the term “pronoun case,” no, you don’t already understand these rules definitively.
No worries. I have taught pronoun usage, with delightful and well demonstrated success, to hundreds upon hundreds of students. I can teach you, too. But that lesson will have to wait (until I write it up — and several more important ones stand ahead of it in line). Right now, my focus is on avoiding PC-ness if/when it hoses up the easy grammar rules. Pronoun abuse makes for a great and presently-common example. Let’s move on.
NOT the “same-ol’, same-ol’ crap”!
So brace yourself. Should you prefer to read the same-ol’, same-ol’ (opinions that you already agree with, of course), you can find that stuff, by definition (see “ubiquitous”), just about anywhere/everywhere on the Web. In fact, just hold still, and it will find you. God bless those algorithms! They serve to hold you right where you are — just angrier about everything.
Well, as I’ve said, I seek movement! On this blog, I will strive to not feed and infuriate your assumptions, — to keep you clicking the way you’re “supposed to” — but to challenge your assumptions, test your intellect, and enlighten your dark corners, starting right now with this issue of pronoun propriety.
After posting this necessary preamble (the why), by which I mean to invite readers of all (or should I say both) political stances, I will post another little essay, presenting different options as to how you should handle the “politically correct pronoun” issue, in your personal practice of everyday speech, including your private and, especially public “talk” (spoken and written). That associated post will show how; but first, let’s delve into why.
At last! “Pronoun rules” NOT owing to a political stance
Please note that, unlike almost everybody with an opinion on this matter, I, dear reader-student, have spent hundreds of hours in university classrooms teaching the ins and outs of pronoun use and abuse. Have you? Has anyone you know? Has anyone, period, these days? Probably not. That’s why you need me!
The majority of writing instructors (especially college, but high school, too) don’t even bring up the topic of pronouns — unless for political purposes. Grammar, that’s rarely the motivation. In contrast, when I teach writing, my pronoun lessons have always taken a front seat – yes, for grammatical reasons: pronouns frequently get messed up. And that’s been true for eons — way before PC-madness worsened the matter.
I have loved demystifying pronouns across a career’s worth of bright, eager, and grateful learners. Yes, it’s a pet topic. You can learn it, too, right here. (The full lesson on pronouns and how they work will come later. This is just a badly needed warm-up.)
Also, I hope you will appreciate that, as my heading above suggests, my criticism of what I am generalizing as “politically correct pronouns” hold special value, because it does not come from any political stance. Yes, that’s rare. Most stances on this subject come noticeably from the right or left. My stance is rooted not in politics but in grammar.
I love the mantra “words matter,” but, to me, the phrase means a lot more than a cheap, unschooled, and vague justification of any politicized position, as this “bumper sticker” phrase usually functions, in my critical view.
Q: Why should I hose up my pronouns, for example referring to one single person as “they”? A: “Silly, don’t you know? It’s because “words matter.”
Yes, words matter, so let’s get them right, starting right now with pronouns.
Left-leaners (as I sometimes place myself), likely you are well aware that most critics of “politically correct pronouns” are coming from a harshly conservative political place. In their weak criticism, they are not trying for fairness; they do not seek truth; they are simply and clumsily trying to win some anti-left political points.
Their criticism tends to reveal abundant animosity and therefore offers little of value, except for pleasing others with the same view, who love the reinforcement. The conservative critics are not standing up for grammar and a true love of language. They are bashing what they (usually correctly) see as a liberal agenda.
In political fairness and to demonstrate the neutrality I claim, I will point out that the “lefties” advocating for “politically correct pronouns” offer little support for any basis for ignoring the rules of grammar, which I am calling central to language as an expressly human attribute and resource. When pressed for a rationale, such advocates for “pronoun distortion” proclaim that the pronoun bending is necessary because, of course, “words matter.”
Well, we agree there. But I say, so does grammar. Asserting that “words matter” cannot, without more substantial support, justify the “okaying” of unnecessary, ignorant-sounding (except to lefties) breeches of grammatical convention. With issues of “gender” quite prominent in social science research, where — I ask, where? — can we find the research that shows that contorting conventional pronoun use has done one iota of good for anybody, except for soothing certain political sensitivities? In the words of the ’60s rock band, the Zombies, “She’s not there.”
There, now I have offended both sides. I told you I was neutral! In contrast to the customary partisanship, I intend to bring to this controversial subject some refreshing fairness and goodwill – to all – along with a passion for excellence and artistry in language.
That’s my agenda. I’m calling for reason and rationality, not political stance-assuming. Why resist the trend of hosing up your pronoun use? Here’s why: As of this moment, you now know better than to degrade your use of what makes us human (language) on the basis of an ill-understood bumper sticker.
For further details, read the nearby post with “how” to do it suggested in the post title.