Liberal Language Board Approved—X Marks the Irony
I first heard the latest mandatory neologism on MSNBC, so you know it’s Liberal Language Board Approved. Latinx.
I guess it’s pronounced Latin-X but if I had simply read it, I might have supposed it rhymes with Kleenex or it might be pronounced LaTinks, But the meaning was unclear, to say the least, and so I had to look it up. It is not, as I suspected, a nasal spray even though it rhymes with Nasonex as sold by Antonio Banderas.
No, apparently it’s another proclamation from another ivory tower that Latin American people would prefer not to use the gender-specific nouns that are part of the Spanish and Portuguese languages. In other words, Latina and Latino are bad even though correct where such people come from. Now, although a recent Pew Poll shows the vast majority (97%) of people to whom it’s supposed to apply have never heard this, it’s the right, the only thing to say if you don’t want to be damned forever as a racist and misogynist.
Many languages do, after all, have two or three genders for nouns: male, female and neuter. Spanish and Portuguese have only two That’s a bit old fashioned and offensive seeing how many there now are, although I can’t at the moment remember how many and it’s certainly more than three. Perhaps we ought simply to ban all those languages as offensive or all make them switch to Woke.
Not knowing which Mexican or Costa Rican cousin is which, I would heretofore have resorted to Latin or Latin American, or perhaps just Maria or Marc or Gabriella, but as we know, being Liberals, that the final word is handed down not up and the organizations and ‘isms’ are always right. So I will now have to call a number of friends and relatives Latinx (or are they Latinxes?) and likely have to explain to them that no, I’m not nuts, I’m hip. I’ve yet to hear the official word on how we are supposed to treat titles like Filipino and Filipina. I will have to wait for the language Gestapo to knock on my door or simply be quiet about it.
But such things make great shibboleths. If you find it all ironic or risible, you’re one of them, right?
In case you missed it: The Thieving English Language
It’s occurred to me that in the Starbucks language, Barista sounds gender specific even though they’re not currently using Baristo, but wokers being what they are, it’s only a matter of time before we are obliged to use Baristx. It’s not just our country as the new laughing stock, it’s the English language – if we can still call it that. We may have to switch to something else because you know – racism.
I just go by Jess or J if you are really close to me. I have been labeled latinx but I correct people right away since it annoys me. Borriqua is another one I frequently get and I wasn’t even born in PR, I am a California girl that everyone wishes they could be, according to the Beach Boys 😉
Well, as far as I know no one has been jailed over this so I shall continue to follow the Spanish language preference. O = males and A = female.
This shit is tiring.