2 Jan
2013
2 Jan
'13
2:26 p.m.
On Wed, Jan 02, 2013, Luke Donforth wrote:
Warning, this is a rambling e-mail that shares my thought processes, rather
than a brief statement of a conclusion, because I may have missed a turn
along the way:
;-)
Independent of the Babylon 5 reference, I've
actually been thinking about
colors as an option for role labels. There are lots of color names to chose
from. While I like green and purple, I'd prefer a one syllable color over
purple. Possible something that starts with L or W instead of purple, so
that folks with prior phonemic tendencies have less cognitive dissonance.
Two syllables is part of the point, actually. It increases the
distinction for those who are hearing impaired (like me, deaf with
cochlear implant). Purple/green are also easy to say, they have
essentially zero tongue-twister tendency (say them in any order five
times fast).
So yeah, I was making a joke, but if you're going to pick a couple of
colors, it would be somewhat difficult to do better than purple/green.
As a sub-part of this conversation; is the quest for
something to
supplement/replace the gents/ladies terminology in mainstream dances (which
I think is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future), or replace
barearms/armbands in the gender free scene? While I see a value in coming
up with useable gender neutral terminology, I think it'll be an uphill
battle to convince many people to leave behind a system that is working
just fine for them. The only way I see gender-neutral terms being adopted
near-universally is if the new terms are in some way better for the people
who don't give a hoot about the gender neutral cause. It's sadly cynical,
but its my prediction.
Mostly agreed. Since I'm new here, did someone previously post a
summary answering this? Give me a rough date and I'll look it up in the
archives.
--
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
I don't really mind a person having the last whine, but I do mind someone
else having the last self-righteous whine.