Interesting fact

Sometimes we come across people who use datedly offensive terms* that are, nevertheless, not quite slurs, and there's every reason to believe that those particular people aren't trying to offend.

And you might want to say something to them. Fair enough.

If you want this to be a productive use of your time, like, at all, I suggest you try out the word "dispreferred". For some reason, that goes over much better than the other options. Which is weird, because it's niche linguistics jargon and usually people react pretty badly if you use words they don't know (as though you're supposed to magically know which words they do and don't know, except in this case I absolutely do know), but that rule is completely suspended when using this word while telling people "don't use that term, use this one". Which is doubly weird, because of course nobody likes even the gentlest commentary on anything they do.

Except if you use the word "dispreferred" to give it. I don't get it, but I'll take it.

* Lately I've been bumping into a lot of "wheelchair-bound". Why?

So, I did actually manage to read something new, go me

and that's the Lockwood & Co. books by Stroud. They're pretty fun if you read them fast enough not to notice the shaky worldbuilding!

( Read more... )

Complaining aside, I liked these a lot and will likely re-read them. Real Bartimaeus vibes, except without the footnotes and with only one POV. Also, I didn't question that worldbuilding nearly as much, though that doesn't mean I shouldn't have.