Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

feel like both of those things are different kinds of suck

"rock star" is now established corporate lingo indicating nothing in particular

Had a polite discussion with a female editor co-worker of mine over the phrase "girl boss".

As in "Check Out These 7 'Girl Bosses' Leading the Pack" for a profile compendium of women executives in our metro.

She was in favor, I was against, but the last thing I want to be accused of is mansplaining the phrase "girl boss" to a female compatriot of mine.

^different generations seem to think differently about stuff like that

You would know, I guess.

I've seen more than a few generations so far. My grandparents were all born in the 19th century. Seen at least on generation coming up after me born in the 21st century. So, yeah, I've got anecdotal ground to stand on.

Gransplaining

Re: PoC

I just use non-white. It's the clearest you can get. Some non-white people from countries where they are the majority hate the term PoC and think it should only be used in places where they are minorities.

Really hating "big bad" for main villain.

"Non-white" is problematic because it centres whiteness, though.

Isn't PoC still doing that but a bit less blatant?

yes, it's implicit ('people without colour' has a nice, 'man without qualities' sort of ring to it). I lean towards 'ethnic minorities' when applicable, but it's not possible to have neatly unproblematic terms about an inherently problematic concept imo.

^ this is so crucial to understand

Ogmor OTM.

My answer is basically not to state that some terminology or other is somehow objectively best, but to keep my ears open and listen to what non-white/PoC/BAME voices ask to be identified as. Yes, that will change over time, and yes, groups and individuals may have conflicting desires, but it's actually not that hard to listen and change your vocabulary as necessary.

I agree with emil.y

Also like to add that I think it's more important to be kind, respectful and understanding of others than to know a correct lexicon of terms < strikes me as a problem with current PC culture

Sure, as long as you are receptive enough to others' feelings to update your lexicon - you can only plead ignorance once

I really wish PoC wasn't the term most in vogue as it sounds awkward and silly to me, and I tend to use "non-white" when I want to refer to all people who aren't white as a single group because I think you might as well centre the (bad) construct of whiteness in that case, but I'm at the point that I would only really use threads like this where we get pissy about linguistic minutiae to say so

This is a good piece that has a bunch of critiques of some of the current terms, including PoC.

http://vajra.me/2015/04/15/margin/

And yes, I get most of my race and lgbt reading through speculative fiction authors.

Haha of course you do

RAG against the machines

But they are quite good at it (apart from the hard right), since they're always thinking about radical changes and different societies

I wasn't having a go it was just a pvmic, I p much share your feelings here (and also re big bad, awful term)

I feel kind of like a hypocrite using the term "people of colour" on ilx or twitter or wherever just because I can't imagine actually saying it in the presence of any of the people of colour/non-white people/etc that I know irl. (I guess this depends on what circles you move in? I feel like most of the ppl I interact with on a day to day basis would be weirded out by me using the term PoC in conversation, but maybe I'm wrong idk) (NB not that I'm going around constantly making explicit reference people's ethnicity or anything)

I've never heard a uk person say it out loud, it's a US (& therefore internet) thing

emil.y is correct and wise

darraghmac has caused me to laugh

that is all

solitary posts

i am really tired of this weird trend in mostly article writing of referring to any group of marginalized people as "folks" ie "black folks", "trans folks", "lgbt folks" even "folks of color" (???)

it seems like it's supposed to be careful wording but it always sticks out and i have no idea what the point of it is. just say people ??

haha I think that's not great but paradoxically I endorse "folks of colour"

"Take"

referring to "take" as a noun used as a synonym for "opinion"

hot take bill

funny

'make' as a noun has always sounded clumsy to me, often should be brand instead, get rid

Name is so much better than brand imo

Autocorrect better than either obv

'make' is better than 'brand' because linkedin and twitter aren't besieged with 50 billion posts/articles about "make strategies" or "make awareness" or "your personal make"

core make proposition

make thoughts

i am really tired of this weird trend in mostly article writing of referring to any group of marginalized people as "folks" ie "black folks", "trans folks", "lgbt folks" even "folks of color" (???)

"we tortured some folks"

'make' as a noun has always sounded clumsy to me, often should be brand instead, get rid

"make and model" v common acceptable imo

well if mordy thinks so I might have to reconsider

I keep on thinking about Bryan Ferry.

xp idk it maybe is more of an industry term of art? but ime it's super common esp regarding cars & industrial equipment

punching up / punching down

get a new excuse for why it's ok for u to punch but not for someone else

'make' as a noun was also rife at my high school but it didn't stop everyone sounding like non-native speakers

lol telling someone to 'get' something and bad faith use of 'excuse' both strike me as much more heinous than fisticuffs as a shorthand for power dynamics

i take exception to about 99% of that response

"power dynamics" also a terrible terrible idiom tho

ilx is the best place to take exception imo

iirc I """"called"""" out pu/pd within about ten mins of first ilx use Mordy so you'll have to relinquish the rights to this one iirc