Fredagsfrustration :: Køns'neutrale' ord -- Gender 'Neutrality'

MotherOwl ranting over 'gender-neutral' words like chairperson and the abomination shero.

-- 😡  💬  💣 --

     Uglemor har altid syntes, at en af de helt store fordele ved det danske sprog i modsætning til for eksempel tysk, er at vi siden en gang i 1960'erne ikke har kønsvisende stillingsbetegnelser, som lærerinde, danserinede osv. Nu er der så ved at gå kønspolitik i det hele igen-igen.

     En i mit lokalområde er for nyligt blevet valgt til forperson - Æv, æv og tre gange æv! som Store Stygge Ulv siger. Hun er altså min formand! Det der andet PC-ord, får mig til at falde over sætningen, til at irriteres og tænke: Hun er ikke min for'person' altså!
     Det er OK, når det kan gøres elegant og med et glimt i øjet, som en Webmoster for eksempel.
     Det bliver totalt udlideligt, når det går ud over i forvejen kønsneutrale ord, som det engelske 'hero' (=helt), der bliver til en shero. For 'he'-delen her er ikke er en 'ham' men bare en stavelse i ordet heros, der betyder forsvarer, helt, halvgud på græsk/latin.
     Skal vi nu til at sige brandperson, pølseperson, jordeforælder og hvad vi ellers kan finde på. Og hvad gør vi ved de mandlige sygeplejersker? Stop det fnadder, altså!
     Hvis jeg nogensinde (Gud forbyde!) skulle blive formand for noget som helst, vil jeg insistere på at være og kaldes formand, med trussel om at gå af, hvis det ikke respekteres.

     For mig er det ideelle sand 'neutralitet', altså hvor man ikke dyrker ordmagi, men ser på mennesket i stedet for overfladiske biologiske og sociale markører.

Words for Wednesday -- Á Íslandi 30

Once again I'm writing tangled tales and byways so as not to make it too fast to the ending. We have still many dangling ends, one of them being the whereabouts of Aamu Raita, now Klara Weber.

And I really have to change the name of this chapter -as I'm sure you can guess á Íslandi means In Iceland, and we have long since left this place!

I took up the additional challenge of using the words n the order they were given.

The words were:
Stupefied
Collector
Arrange
Reflections
Fashion
Slate
    and/or:
Hesitate
Adjusted
Hat
Segment
Coffeemaker
Dessert

The magicians in the hall broke up, some of the younger families took tea, coke and cake outsides to the gardens to give the children time for running and playing, some went to their rooms to give small ones some shut-eye and clean clothes. Some just wandered around hand in hand. All a bit shell shocked from the afternoons events. The old apprentices, now teachers and in most cases grandparents sat with Martine at a larger table, only Lis and Tage left to tell the bed ridden Sandra what had happened.

Ella just sat in a chair, feeling tired to the bones and stupefied by the progression from vaguely dissatisfied, habitually married senior citizen to gaslighted victim to widow in the span of days.
It dawned upon her that she had always been the collector of happy memories, Grandma's cottage being the most important of them. And all her books, most of them made her think of something good. Maybe she did not have any children, but she was going to be a good aunt ... she was going to invite her siblings one by one, pick up the broken pieces of her family life. And what was it Susan had told her yesterday about the librarian being Aamu. Should they probably go and get her? What did she know of Klara, as Aamu was now called. She thought back to the Christmas party at Unicorn Farm. The slim, blonde Finnish girl on beautiful red and green dress with embroidered willows on her dress. Ella realized that the language magic let her know that Raita, Aamu's last name meant willow. And there had been something distinctly willowy over Aamu. Her reflections went forward in time to the latest meeting in the book circle at the library, and she almost laughed out loud. She had arrived early, and had been looking at an exhibition of books Klara had made, many of them had had 'willow' in the title or as an illustration. Willow basket weaving was once again in fashion, and books on this, The Wind in the Willows, a series beginning with Summer at Willow Lake, The Willow Pattern Story and even Blue Willow, one of Ella's childhood favourite reads had been prominent there. It made Ella think. Why had Klara (Aamu) done this? Had she nurtured a secret hope of being fond out? Was it just coincidence - Ella did not believe in coincidence.  Ella's head slowly sank back in the comfy chair and she dropped off to sleep, dreaming a tangled story of herself, Walther, Klara and someone else exchanging the slates of their house with books in preparation for some coming evil. She woke with a start, and looked into Susan's worried face: "Did you have a nightmare?" Susan asked. "You kept calling for someone to come and help you."
"Not a nightmare," Ella said, "but strange dream." She told Susan of Klara's books and the crazy dream. "Do you think that we could risk going to Schiltach and visit Klara? I feel an urgency to go there."

Susan hesitated. "I think I want to go and ask Sandra. Her premonitions are getting better and better, and she was right in getting you here.  You better take a rest in a real bed, even if this chair is comfy it's a back breaking place to sleep."
  Ella got up and stretched her back: "I'll be in my room if you need me. A nap in a real bed is the right cure for my poor back, I think."

... to be continued

Blogging from A - Z?

The A to Z challenge is up and running again this year for the 13th time.
I'm still debating with myself if I want to join or not.
You have until March 21 to link up a theme and from the March 30 you can just join ... at least this is how I understood it, feeling a bit mystified why you have to tell of your theme before joining.

The meta-theme of this year is:

ACCOMPLISHING YOUR DREAMS, AND THE DUALITY OF 22. 

Well ... I could write of all my dreams, projects, long-term ideas and the colour them RED for not accomplished or GREEN for accomplished / under way. This way I could tell of happenings great and small in the Owlery and still stay with the A to Z challenge ...

I could also treat it with ignore, keeping to my usual non-schedule, posting Susan's story, craft and gardening without looking at any letters ...

And IF I do the challenge, will I do it in English or in Danish ... Is it A for Apple or A for Abe (monkey)? Apple in Danish is Æble which brings me to the next problem: The letters: In Danish, we do not limit ourselves to 26 letters, we add Æ, Ø, and Å bringing the count up to 29. On the other hand, we have almost no words beginning in Q, W, X, or Z ... down to 25.

So many questions ....

I'm not going to do any theme reveal. So much is - almost - certain. But will I join or not?

What do you say?

A sub-theme this year is a Tribute to Jeremy Hawkins. I did not know him, and though I feel sad for partners and family missing him, I won't do anything more than linking here and say a prayer. So I go with the normal A to Z challenge badge seen here.

Actually I liked Lissa's badge better - seen here. Maybe I'll use this, if I go with my dreams accomplished or not idea.

Words for Wednesday -- No Story

The Words for Wednesday is a movable feast, celebrating writing.

This month, March, the prompts can be found at River's place Drifting Through Life.

And this is a The more, the merrier kind of endeavour, so Please, remember to follow the links, go and read other peoples' stories.
And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement.
We ALL need encouragement.

The words are:
Stupefied
Collector
Arrange
Reflections
Fashion
Slate
    and/or:
Hesitate
Adjusted
Hat
Segment
Coffeemaker
Dessert

And these last couple of days showcase my eternal problem: ENDINGS! I have no problem beginning a story (or anything else for that matter), continuing, and producing words by the million, but endings, finishings ... not so much.

I know what to write, I know how this chapter will end and where to go from there. The words are fine for that purpose, not super inspiring, but I see where they fit in. I sit myself down to write, and then ... nothing. Blank paper, or screen actually.

I'm so sorry. I hope that something will give, the dam break, or whatever.

Tirsdagstips :: Rundpinde - Circular Needles

     Der er mange mere eller mindre smarte måder at opbevare rundpinde på. I fotolommer, i kagedåser, på knagerækker og mange andre. Men i dag så jeg bare den genialeste på et genbrug. Man kunne også købe materialet til opbevaringen dér, så jeg investerede en hel femmer i denne geniale idé.
     Vel hjemme igen tilføjede jeg en pind og et par tal med sort tusch. Så hængte jeg de rundpinde, jeg lige kunne fange, op i den og og et billede. Det er da smart!

-- 🧶 --

  In the internet and elsewhere many ways of storing circular needles can be seen, Plastic pockets, cookie tins and many other. Today I saw an ingenious storing system in a second hand shop. They also sold the materials for it. I was not sure, I had any at home, so I spent all of 5 kroner (a not very large amount - approximately the price of ½ a litre of the cheapest milk).
  Back home I added a stick, and a couple of numbers in black ink. I then rounded up my circular needles and placed them in the contraption. This is smart!

Det er rynkebånd!      --     It is pleat tape!