Friday 29 August 2008

Personal pronouns ...

... even I get them wrong!

I actually made a comment the other day about something or other and followed this with " ... and then you'll say he was right ..." referring to myself as "he" even though I was clearly presenting as female that day.

So, really, don't feel too bad when you get the pronouns wrong, particularly if the person concerned hasn't made a clear transition yet (this would be the case with me). However, if you do want to make the effort the rules are simple:

Presenting as male - perfectly okay to say "he", "him", etc
Presenting as female - better to use "she", "her", etc

I guess that raises the question of how to identify what someone is presenting as: I'm not sure on others rules for this but for me, if I'm wearing make-up and seem somewhat enhanced in the chest department then it's a fair bet I'm trying to appear female so would appreciate appropriate pronouns.

Anyway, that's enough for now, I think I'll try and do more little helpful hints in future as people are asking questions about things that are clearly obvious to me but which aren't to the wider world.

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