revelation: why sex matters

[Guest guest]

Re:

Re:

> A lot of people call a dog " boy " or " girl " ( " Here boy! " " Good girl! "

> etc.). I'd suspect it would either be that, or trying to figure out

> which set of pronouns to use in talking about the dog.

Yes - when I ask about the gender of someone's pet, I do this *only*

for that reason.

In some of the languages I speak (and have spoken with people who

have pens and who speak those languages), this matters even more than

it does in English - in Hebrew and Russian, for example, not only the

pronouns but also the verb-forms change with gender. If English

handled verbs the way Hebrew does, you would say " My dog bites

strangers " if you meant a male dog, but " My dog bites-et strangers " if

you meant a female dog. (To ask " Does your dog bite strangers? " on a

street in Israel when you don't know the dog's sexual identity, you'd

use the male form, and the owner of a female dog would correct this in

the reply: " No, Blackie loves-et strangers, and only bites-et people

who kick, " or whatever.)

Yours for better letters,

Kate Gladstone

Handwriting Repair and the World Handwriting Contest

handwritingrepair@...

http://learn.to/handwrite, http://www.global2000.net/handwritingrepair

325 South Manning Boulevard

Albany, New York 12208-1731 USA

telephone 518/482-6763

AND REMEMBER ...

you can order books through my site!

(Amazon.com link -

I get a 5% - 15% commission on each book sold)

[Guest guest]

Nothing wrong with that, ! *grins* Our 'perseverations' often give us

great power and ability. Someday I'm going to have to write at length about

how offensive it is that that trait of ours has been stigmatized to such an

extent.

Would love to hear the rant,

Ari

>

>

> Someday I'll go through my Extended Rant on tribalism and how it affects

> society today. I suppose it's a bit of a perseveration for me.

[Guest guest]

Agreed. My perseverations will probably make me a good doctor, as I

spend much of my free time researching syndromes.'

Ettina

> >

> >

> > Someday I'll go through my Extended Rant on tribalism and how it

affects

> > society today. I suppose it's a bit of a perseveration for me.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

My Dad described how he was talking to two acquaintances of his, one

of whom is gay, and the non-gay person was saying " I can spot a gay

person a mile off. " Totally unaware that one of the people she was

saying this to was gay!

Ettina

>

> It was 17 Mar 2006, when KayeT commented:

>

> > Here are some similar strange-isms:

> > " Do you think he/she's gay? "

> > " Oh I can spot 'em. I can tell right off when a person's gay! "

>

> A friend of mine used to say, " I know for a fact he's gay. When

I

> nuzzled his ear, he giggled! " ;-)

>

> --

>

> B. , another satisfied user of

> Pegasus Mail Client and Mercury MTA <http://www.pmail.com>

> <ftp://ftp.usm.maine.edu/pegasus/winpmail/w32-431.exe>

>

[Guest guest]

Very cool. I've often found mine very helpful in understanding law (I hope

to become a lawyer). Out of curiosity, are you a college student or an adult

planning on going to med school?

>

> Agreed. My perseverations will probably make me a good doctor, as I

> spend much of my free time researching syndromes.'

> Ettina

>

> > >

> > >

> > > Someday I'll go through my Extended Rant on tribalism and how it

> affects

> > > society today. I suppose it's a bit of a perseveration for me.

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

With some people you wonder whether they're a jerk.

Others open their mouth and dispel all doubt.

~Bonnie

- - -

> My Dad described how he was talking to two

> acquaintances of his, one

> of whom is gay, and the non-gay person was saying " I

> can spot a gay

> person a mile off. " Totally unaware that one of the

> people she was

> saying this to was gay!

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Maybe the jerk was too far-sighted to see a gay right in front

of him

Jerry Newport

>

> With some people you wonder whether they're a jerk.

> Others open their mouth and dispel all doubt.

>

> ~Bonnie

>

> - - -

> > My Dad described how he was talking to two

> > acquaintances of his, one

> > of whom is gay, and the non-gay person was saying " I

> > can spot a gay

> > person a mile off. " Totally unaware that one of the

> > people she was

> > saying this to was gay!

>

>

> __________________________________________________

>

[Guest guest]

> I suspect it may be for different reasons than that, though. When

> young, if we " guess wrong " the sex of a person or of an animal, we

> can be ridiculed. Ridicule, teasing and bullying can be a strong

> motivator, as I suspect any Aspie can attest. It hurts, and we

> remember. It may be unrealistic to expect ridicule under the same

> circumstances when one becomes an adult. But that doesn't mean we

> don't feel the same stresses as if it might actually happen.

*That* may be why someone took off running once when told I was female.

But I don't know.

[Guest guest]

It was 30 Mar 2006, when Jane Meyerding commented:

> wrote:

> >We are tribal creatures, from thousands of generations of tribes. We

> >don't really need reasons to act like it. I suppose tribalism has some

> >survival benefits, because it doess seem to get perpetuated, doesn't it?

> >

> >Someday I'll go through my Extended Rant on tribalism and how it affects

> >society today.

>

> You can direct people to the book instead (instead of ranting), if

> you want to. I started reading it and found it interesting but a bit

> bothersome that the author continually writes (as you did in your

> post) about what " we " are like, describing things that are not like

> me at all.

>

> The book is " Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind " by

> Berreby (Little, Brown, 2005).

What? Somebody stole my idea? ;-)

--

B. , another satisfied user of

Pegasus Mail Client and Mercury MTA <http://www.pmail.com>

<ftp://ftp.usm.maine.edu/pegasus/winpmail/w32-431.exe>

[Guest guest]

Alas, now I'm told somebody stole my idea! <grin> Could be cryptomnesia,

too.

It was 31 Mar 2006, when Ari N. commented:

> Nothing wrong with that, ! *grins* Our 'perseverations' often give us

> great power and ability. Someday I'm going to have to write at length about

> how offensive it is that that trait of ours has been stigmatized to such an

> extent.

>

> Would love to hear the rant,

> Ari

>

>

>

> >

> >

> > Someday I'll go through my Extended Rant on tribalism and how it affects

> > society today. I suppose it's a bit of a perseveration for me.

>

>

>