Switches and Internet Chat Rooms

[Never]

In a chat room where the I/inhabitants feel the need to reflect T/their status by slightly mangling the English language, how should a switch capitolize their handle?

 

[Netzach]

H/however S/s/H/he wants to.

I think English standard caps are good.

 

[Never]

I think it's good as well. However, I was wondering what the general chat etiquette was. It seems to me that standard English capitalization would suffice yet I also think it would suffice for submissives and that is often not the case.

 

[Netzach]

Here's my thought. If you ID as a switch in that context you are already an iconoclast. One of the most common debates secondary to "the significance of collars" or "what's a sub what's a slave?" is "do switches exist?"

With all kinds of people who have never done one iota of RT BDSM activity weighing in on whether it's valid to switch or not.

I think if you're opening that can of worms, you really *can* type it however you want.

 

[Never]

That's a reply I can live with.

 

[AngelicAssassin]

Style Hijack

And how do you deal with the ever popular "he or she" when you want to use a pronoun and include both genders?

 

[catalina_francisco]

Re: Style Hijack

And how do you deal with the ever popular "he or she" when you want to use a pronoun and include both genders?

Their; them; they etc.

 

[AngelicAssassin]

Re: Re: Style Hijack

Their; them; they etc.

Chuckling, glad we agree.

 

[catalina_francisco]

Re: Re: Re: Style Hijack

Chuckling, glad we agree.

Is always cool.

 

[Etoile]

Re: Style Hijack

And how do you deal with the ever popular "he or she" when you want to use a pronoun and include both genders?

There are a lot of gender-neutral pronouns out there. My favorites are the Spivak pronouns (more information at that link).

 

[catalina_francisco]

Re: Re: Style Hijack

There are a lot of gender-neutral pronouns out there. My favorites are the Spivak pronouns (more information at that link).

Creative, but I think most would either get frustrated by them, think there was a typing error, or just wonder what was being said, especially in the instance of e, thus communication breakdown.

 

[Etoile]

Re: Re: Re: Style Hijack

Creative, but I think most would either get frustrated by them, think there was a typing error, or just wonder what was being said, especially in the instance of e, thus communication breakdown.

Yeah, that's why anytime I use "e" I feel I have to link to the short explanation I keep on my site for that purpose. The only place I haven't felt the need to do that was in the Butch-Femme.com forum, where the gender-neutral pronouns fly fast and furious.

 

[Ebonyfire]

Seems too much like work to Me.

 

[s'lara]

i used to address switches without using the caps simply because i never knew when they were in Dom/me mode or sub/bottom mode.

*smiles* There was a switch in the Lit chat area i knew and i used to refer to his Dom side as his evil, wicked twin. Purely jest and he loved it.

lara

 

[Never]

Why invent new pronouns when the English language gives us a perfectly good gender neutral one in 'they'?

 

[FungiUg]

Re: Re: Style Hijack

Their; them; they etc.

Within limits, because this loses the singularity of "he or she" (i.e. you can't tell that you are referring to one person any more when you use "they" or "them"). Sometimes (sad to say), you just have to outright say it.

A common abbreviation I have seen is s/he, which I don't object to too strenuously.

 

[Never]

FungiUg,
That's like saying when you use 'you' the reader can't understand if you're using singular or plural.

Examples –
Singular: You're a rotten egg. I can't understand you.
Plural: You're all rotten eggs. I can't understand you.

Singular: If a worker wants to get ahead then they must prove themselves.
Plural: If workers want to get ahead then they must prove themselves.

If I had ONLY said, "I can't understand you." Or "They must prove themselves." then you wouldn't know if I was talking in singular or plural but when people use the English language they always use it in context.