That crow could be placed on a Performance Improvement Plan for such behavior. It could even be fired if it lives long enough. Sweetheart should ask it for a complaint form.
What happened to Sweetheart’s coat with the pencils and so forth in the pockets? It might have fallen off between panels 3 and 4, but it should be partially visible in panel 1 and maybe 2.
I’m thinking this is a fairly smart crow, and it’s recognized Sweetheart as a President-impersonator up to no good.
By the way…”Sir, Madam, or Other?” What else is there besides “Sir” and “Madam?” (At least, what else is there that doesn’t seem incredibly lame and silly?)
I’m actually not sure what the respectful gender neutral title is and so would default to Sir unless. I had other suggestions.
A quick google search gives a number of forms of address for different contexts, and some options that only work when written, but no direct substitute. The closest I can find is calling someone ‘citizen’, which is both dorky and ominous. The french revolution just had to ruin things for everyone didn’t they?
They tried making up new pronouns but people just didn’t take to it.
The current idea is to butcher English a bit more up and use the term “they” for other gendered persons. English is regularly butchered and mangled in modern life so that’s hardly a crime, but it for non-native English speakers or people outside the multi-gender culture it is going to be confusing.
“They” as the third person singular pronoun of undefined gender has been a done deal for centuries now. It’s only slightly more controversial than “you” as the second person singular.
So is “thou” yet it is no longer in use. And it is not mentioned in my English books for non-native speakers. I would not be surprised if it is not mentioned or taught in grammar books for native speakers.
I am not saying that it shouldn’t be done. I’m just saying that it is going to be confusing and it is non-standard English.
None from me. The English language is always evolving and creating new words and new ways of saying old words—but none of the suggested substitutions has been anything less than horrible, and rejected by the English-speaking population at large.
There’s the old “NewsRadio” joke about the difference between sex and gender. “I’d much rather have sex than gender.” “Well, since you have neither, life must be very sad for you.”
Both presume gender. Gender (as opposed to biological sex) is a social construct. Social constructs are arbitrary. Arbitrary concepts can be as many as that can be made up.
So, it depends on who you ask. There are people that decided to escape the gender binary by making a rainbow spectrum of even more arbitrary (and I admit, to me vague) genders.
To be fair, biology is weird and does not care for soft borders so there may be weird cases.
Proposal: this is Phil. But instead of being a transgenic bird thinking they’re a normal human, mirror!Phil is a transgenic bird thinking they’re a normal human.
Well judging by the “or other” looks like they learned something from the bathroom thing before coming
And yet despite that, Sweetheart still refuses to use the polite form of address for “other”… whatever the hell that is
That crow could be placed on a Performance Improvement Plan for such behavior. It could even be fired if it lives long enough. Sweetheart should ask it for a complaint form.
“Goink” returns!
Much better than election returns. In fact, with luck, it’s many happy returns!
And stamina.
Shield your nose, Sweetheart!
Till he mentioned Niue in connection with “goinked,” I thought for a moment he meant Phil. And that boggles the mind.
me too
What happened to Sweetheart’s coat with the pencils and so forth in the pockets? It might have fallen off between panels 3 and 4, but it should be partially visible in panel 1 and maybe 2.
I’m thinking this is a fairly smart crow, and it’s recognized Sweetheart as a President-impersonator up to no good.
By the way…”Sir, Madam, or Other?” What else is there besides “Sir” and “Madam?” (At least, what else is there that doesn’t seem incredibly lame and silly?)
There are inorganic life forms in this world. They must not have genders.
I’m actually not sure what the respectful gender neutral title is and so would default to Sir unless. I had other suggestions.
A quick google search gives a number of forms of address for different contexts, and some options that only work when written, but no direct substitute. The closest I can find is calling someone ‘citizen’, which is both dorky and ominous. The french revolution just had to ruin things for everyone didn’t they?
So, anyone have any suggestions?
They tried making up new pronouns but people just didn’t take to it.
The current idea is to butcher English a bit more up and use the term “they” for other gendered persons. English is regularly butchered and mangled in modern life so that’s hardly a crime, but it for non-native English speakers or people outside the multi-gender culture it is going to be confusing.
“They” as the third person singular pronoun of undefined gender has been a done deal for centuries now. It’s only slightly more controversial than “you” as the second person singular.
So is “thou” yet it is no longer in use. And it is not mentioned in my English books for non-native speakers. I would not be surprised if it is not mentioned or taught in grammar books for native speakers.
I am not saying that it shouldn’t be done. I’m just saying that it is going to be confusing and it is non-standard English.
Indeed: Traditional rules for Pronoun usage.
None from me. The English language is always evolving and creating new words and new ways of saying old words—but none of the suggested substitutions has been anything less than horrible, and rejected by the English-speaking population at large.
There’s the old “NewsRadio” joke about the difference between sex and gender. “I’d much rather have sex than gender.” “Well, since you have neither, life must be very sad for you.”
Both presume gender. Gender (as opposed to biological sex) is a social construct. Social constructs are arbitrary. Arbitrary concepts can be as many as that can be made up.
So, it depends on who you ask. There are people that decided to escape the gender binary by making a rainbow spectrum of even more arbitrary (and I admit, to me vague) genders.
To be fair, biology is weird and does not care for soft borders so there may be weird cases.
Lois McMaster Bujold has addressed this thoroughly.
that’s not a crow, they don’t have yellow beaks, its probably a blackbird
Two government employees getting into a jurisdiction battle over the correct paperwork that turns into a mess all over the place.
Yep, they’re in D.C. all right.
Proposal: this is Phil. But instead of being a transgenic bird thinking they’re a normal human, mirror!Phil is a transgenic bird thinking they’re a normal human.
Yeah, not likely.
Huh?
I’m guessing he meant a transgenic bird that thinks he’s a normal bird.