Yahoo! Answers: The End

Many years ago I took a women's studies course and found that the English language doesn't really have any acceptable gender neutral personal pronouns. This bothered me then, as it does now, but to a lesser extent. The only acceptable way--to the ear at least--to use a gender neutral pronoun is to say "they" which English majors all know is not the correct usage.

In response to this problem I had the bright idea to create a new word. Something to combine he and she; something neutral but not disrespectful. Anyway, I thought up this word, but must admit I had some source confusion, but more on that later.

I posted to Y!A, because, as you know, I am a frequent user of the site. I wanted to see what other people had to say about my new word and how well it would be received. I posted in both the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual category and the Words/Wordplay category.

The reaction I got was nothing short of a verbal defamation. I was called upstart, a plagiarist, a butcher of the English language, and even that I had something against the GLB community. I was also told that it's rude to call a person anything other than what they wish to be called. This is all well and good, but what if you are referring to a person in conversation and don't know what they wish to be called? How do you know that asking isn't going to offend them? YOU DON'T! That's why I wanted another pronoun.

I was also informed that the word I chose had been used in decades past, and I shouldn't "try to pass off someone else's word as my own." I realize this is plagiarism, but I also realized (too late) that I had some source misattribution. That being said, since the word is no longer in common parlance, I could have suggested another word, with the same results from the community.

I don't know where the backlash I received originated from, because I explicitly stated in the question that it was merely a SUGGESTION and that I wasn't passing judgment on anyone's lifestyle, and am, in fact, very liberal. Didn't make a bit of a difference. Each ensuing answer to my question became more and more hateful. I was so angry that I did the only thing I could do, I deleted my account.

Yes, that's right. The account I spend the last four months building up points in, is now deleted. At first I joined because I thought I could make a difference in someones life, even if just one person, and even if just a minute difference. But now I realize that those people don't care. They get online for one thing and one thing only: to hurt and humiliate all the other users. My suggestion was merely that: a suggestion; a way to improve the English language and make it more bi-partisan. All I got in return was hung out to dry.

For those of you who know me, I'm not an upstart feminist, and didn't become a feminist after taking one single class on feminism. I was raised by a liberal feminist mother and have been this way my whole life. So before you start jumping on me--the same way the Y!A people did--remember that this one course didn't make me want to change the English language, my whole education of life told me it would be a good idea. I realize that this sort of thing takes time (as I was again rudely informed on Y!A), but I think a suggestion of change is an excellent place to start.