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The need for gender neutral third person singular English pronouns has been apparent and tried since the birth of its modern form.

True Neutral Pronouns

True neutral pronouns are pronouns that can be applied to any person regardless of gender. Most pronouns in use by the trans/nonbinary community are not neutral, and could be considered nonbinary pronouns instead, as they are gendered as such.

Singular They

One truly neutral pronoun in use is singular they/them. This pronoun, while debated by linguistic purists, has been in use since at least Shakespeare's time. It is most commonly used to refer to a person whose gender is not known, for example, "Someone is at the door, I wonder who they are." 

It is widespread etiquette within trans communities to use singular they until a person's pronouns are known. From that point on, if the person's pronouns are not singular they, it would be misgendering to refer to them as such. 

One/Ones/Oneself

While the pronoun "one" is traditionally an indefinite pronoun, roughly meaning "a person" and is thus gender neutral. With the need for new pronouns, it has been adapted by many as a third person singular pronoun, changing it to be specific and definite. This pronoun is one of only a handful of pronouns in use by trans/nonbinary people that is truly gender neutral.

It

Another truly neutral pronoun is "it". While "it" is typically used to refer to objects or animals, there are a handful of trans/nonbinary people who feel most comfortable using these than any other pronoun. Others find this pronoun used as a personal set to be dehumanizing and indignate.

Nonbinary Pronouns

Pronoun neologisms are the norm among trans/nonbinary communities. While many of the pronouns in use may be decades old, such as Spivak, Elverson, MacKay, or humanist pronouns, while others could have been invented within five minutes of this article's creation.

Common nonbinary pronouns are:

  • ze/hir/hir/hirs/hirself
  • ze/zir/zir/zirs/zirself
  • xe/xem/xyr/xyrs/xemself
  • ey/em/eir/eirs/emself
  • e/em/eir/eirs/emself
  • ne/nem/nir/nirs/nemself
  • ve/ver/vis/vis/verself
  • To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Rick’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they’re not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick & Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick’s existential catchphrase “Wubba Lubba Dub Dub,” which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev’s Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon’s genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂 And yes, by the way, i DO have a Rick & Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid 😎[1]

Noun-Based Pronouns

A recent and controversial move among nonbinary people is to create  pronouns that are based off nouns, such as creatures or objects or natural occurrences like storms and outer space.

There are an abundance of these created pronouns, and such is ever growing. Many trans and nonbinary feel that this phenomenon is harmful to their communities and movements, stating that they will prevent cisgender people from taking them seriously. Still others says that these pronouns are well deserved, that after all they go through, new and fun pronouns are their right, and so is feeling safe and comfortable, a primary concern with all nonbinary pronouns. 

Some common noun-based pronouns are:

  • fae/fae/faer/faers/faeself
  • dae/daem/daer/daers/daemself
  • bun/bun/buns/buns/bunself
  • star/star/stars/stars/starself
  • neb/neb/nebs/nebs/nebself
  • yiff/yiff/yiffs/yiffs/yiffself
  • jebbush/jebbushs/jebbushs/jebbushself
  • gamer/gamer/gamers/gamers/gamerself
  • emoji/emoji/emojis/emojis/emojiself

Common themes among noun-based pronouns are:

  • mythical creatures
  • earthly animals
  • robots
  • weather or storms
  • outer space and stars
  • games
  • Have you ever seen a termite mound? They are splendid structures. Some may even call them works of art. Termites are natural architects, and their mounds are both structurally sound and make excellent use of space. So are they following some sort of plan as they build? Are there termite blueprints, detailing which room goes where? No. Of course not. Each termite is simply an oblivious cog in a tremendous machine programmed by millions of years of termite DNA.  It is doubtful an individual termite has any idea what its contributions are helping to create. But a human does. We can appreciate the elegant forms of their alien cathedrals… We can see the simple beauty of their perfect functionality. We can understand the splendid planning of their structure… In other words, only an intelligence of a higher order can understand the beauty of what the termite builds. Now consider humans. Why are we alive? Why do we love, and give birth? Why do we create? From where do our cultures spring? There are many theories, but no one knows the truth. We are oblivious cogs in a tremendous machine programmed by millions of years of human DNA. No doubt you see now what this analogy is supposed to illustrate. Yes, I mean to say humans are not different from termites. We trudge through our lives with no greater understanding of our ultimate goal. You might say we don’t understand what we’re building. Only an intelligence of a higher order than ours can understand what we’re doing. Imagine how we might look to such an intelligence… We may be building some structure so perfect and elegant we can’t even perceive it. Whatever it is, we’ve likely been building it on a dimension just above the ones we know since time immemorial. If we are like the termites, then what we’ve created is almost certainly something of tremendous beauty.
  • oh SHIT it's sans undertale aaAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[2]

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