Some Thoughtful Words About Language

At Shakespeare’s Sister. And at By Neddie Jingo. And at Tom Watson.

Update: See also Echidne of the Snakes, and Zuky and Reappropriate (thanks Ms. Jared!) and here is an excellent comment by “thebewilderness” from a thread at an earlier, pertinent post at Echidne of the Snakes (with permission):

Being in the half of the population that is considered the default insult for the other half of the population wears on the nerves and patience. Patriarchy, you’re soaking in it. It simply adds insult to injury when one is considered unreasonable for objecting. Still, we must object. Every single time, without fail. There was no magical day in the sixties when everyone decided to stop refering to black people in a derrogatory way. No indeed, what happened is that people said “What did you call me?” and “What did you say?” and “Please don’t use that kind of language in front of me.” It is past time that sexist insult disappeared from the mainstream. The only way I see for that to happen is to stop accepting it and object.