Ezra argues that Obama supporters should want Edwards to stay in the race. I’m convinced that Edwards needs to stay in, no matter how unlikely he is to win.
Melody Rose argues that Roe v. Wade ’s significance in terms of abortion rights is way overplayed, since so many women don’t have access. I agree with her, but also think that Roe was a significant cultural event that had a broader meaning than just the right to an abortion.
Poor people that get access to fresh, healthy food eat better. Also, grass grows better if it’s watered.
An organic gender-neutral pronoun has finally emerged: yo. I watched a documentary on “The Wire” and one of the actors talked about how odd it was using that pronoun on the show, because it’s gender-neutral. Considering that the researchers that put this paper out are based at John Hopkins, I have to wonder if the trend is just a Baltimore thing. The feminist they got to comment on this sounds like a stick in the mud, and not just a little bit racist.
High school students in Denver are demanding maternity leave. At my high school, practically the only time they granted you leave for long periods of time was if you were having a baby.
Huckabee calls for women’s submission.
Why no birth control pill for men?
“Juno” and the theme of older men who seek approval from young women.
Obama’s favorite character on “The Wire” is Omar. At this house, we love Omar so much that we considered calling our Rock Band band Omar. It’s still not out of the question. The sad news is that this proves that Obama had Stringer Bell killed. I can’t vote for the man who deprived me of Idris Elba like that.
56 Responses to “Eat your links, so tasty”
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“Moreover, a school must treat recovery from pregnancy like the recovery from any other temporary disability.”
I loved this line in that article about high school students wanting maternity leave. Since when did pregnancy become reclassified as a “disability?” And lord love a duck: use condoms! Then you can finish high school like the teenager you are, instead of as a “disabled” person.
The “why no male birth control pill?” question was actually one that multiple scienceblog contributors took up at once. I think Scientist Interrupted’s response was actually the better one that I saw.
Man, I oughta know about the need for gender neutral pronouns!
“Proposition Joe and the Re-Ups”
The Omar Littles would be a great band name. Better grab it while you can.
The Brothers Mouzone works too.
I loved this line in that article about high school students wanting maternity leave. Since when did pregnancy become reclassified as a “disability?” And lord love a duck: use condoms! Then you can finish high school like the teenager you are, instead of as a “disabled” person.
1. Since our business and occupational lives were made in a guy-centric environment, we don’t have this idea of pregnancy being an event that needs some special considerations, but not one that necessarily renders you useless. Being pregnant is as far from being a manly man working like a man as you can get, ergo it’s weird and there’s something wrong with you. “Temporary disability” is as close as we get to accurately describing the condition, especially when you’re suing.
2. Say “Use condoms!” to the government when they’re passing out sex ed funding. We grownups have been dropping the ball here for some time.
3. Once the fetus is gestating, there’s no use crying over spilled milk. We have to solve the problems we have; since it’s better for everyone if teen mothers finish at least high school, we should be helping them do so, not making it harder to punish them farther.
“An organic gender-neutral pronoun has finally emerged: yo.”
The bad side about it is that no one outside of Baltimore can use it without sounding like a shmuck. It’s always two steps forward and one step back.
“High school students in Denver are demanding maternity leave. At my high school, practically the only time they granted you leave for long periods of time was if you were having a baby.”
At my high school, whenever I was late for my period, I got detention.
Well, I like having a gender-neutral pronoun that doesn’t sound like a random mashup of existing third-person pronouns.
For some reason I find words like “sie” and “hir” highly irritating. Also the term “cisgendered”.
I don’t have a particularly good reason; I just find them aesthetically displeasing.
Anyway, I have two questions:
Um, what?
What?
What the hell do those two quotes mean? Who uses a slang term without knowing what it means?
How and why would you use any kind of word without knowing what it meant?
To be able to use a word in a sentence and not look like an idiot you have to at least know what part of speech it is.
And, they’re saying kids know what it means because it’s gramatically the same each time?
Has there ever been a piece of sland that didn’t fill this requirement?
And second, apparently it’s okay to create a third-person pronoun by mixing up the letters of other third person pronouns, but it’s not okay to do it by dropping a letter from the second person pronoun.
Okay. I guess. I don’t see how it’s disrespectful.
The race is between Romney and McCain on the Republican side, and Clinton and Obama, on the Democratic side.
If Huckabee and Edwards, stay in the race, either, or both conventions could be brokered, deliciously exposing the un-democratic nature of our vaunted two-party [spits on floor] system.
Go Huckabee.
Go Edwards.
And the Clintons have met Obama’s discreet and non-divisive African-American card play, rolled out with the beloved-to-white-America, Oprah in South Carolina, by baiting Obama into injecting race into the conversation.
Ooh, it’s going to be fun.
Lot’s of fun, and then the good guys win. What could be better?
Dinnertime.
The bad side about it is that no one outside of Baltimore can use it without sounding like a shmuck.
I use it outside of Baltimore, and I can confidently assure you that I have never sounded like a shmuck.
The study, published in this week’s New Scientist, found middle-school and high-school students in Baltimore, Maryland, used the word in sentences such as, “Yo put his foot up” and “Yo looks like a freak”.
I don’t buy it.
We have this word and usage in Cincinnati, too. I’ve used it and heard it used. Normally it’s used when you don’t know or can’t think of the name of the person you’re referring to - not as a general replacement for he/she, although it fills that part of speech.
From my own experience and judging by the quotes in the article, it has no inflections or declinations and the possessive form is never used. I don’t suppose any of that keeps it from being a pronoun, but it’s a piss-poor one.
What? What the hell do those two quotes mean? Who uses a slang term without knowing what it means?
Andrew Cuomo?
@Amanda:
It seems at least largely so:
…although there are unconfirmed reports from as far afield as Kansas city.
Here’s a follow-up at language log, and if you can recall any more about that doc, or if any of the resident wireistas can point to specific uses of pronominal yo on the show, Mark would like to hear about it (same link)
That could take some getting used to for me. I’m used to “yo” as a replacement for “Hey” (attention getter) or as “you”/”your”.
I’ve just embraced the use of third person plural for the neutral. Everyone but the strictest grammar nazi is comfortable with it, and knowing it was historically correct makes me able to shrug off the grammar nazis.
@junk science
Really? Mind if I ask a few questions?
Oh, right, I’m in moderation. Must sleep. Too tired to judge if JS was just being cute.
Plants don’t need water, they need electrolytes.
The vengeance of Omar and Brother Mouzone on Stringer Bell, sooooooo delicious spaghetti western influenced! Yummy!
Samantha Vimes, totally agreed on third person plural, and I *am* a grammar nazi. Also, this whole male birth control stuff is timely because I’ve discussed that very topic with about three people this past week, so thanks for the links, Amanda!
I wonder if Huckabee thinks there is any particular limit to beating one’s wife, like, beat her this hard but no harder. Let’s hear his policy proposals.
I approve this message. Singular they is the most intuitive gender neutral option, and the first one most English speakers reach for in a pinch.
Thanks for the link, Amanda!
I’m a 42 year old white hillbilly and i’ve been waiting for someone to come up with a third-person gender neutral third-person pronoun. Thanks to the kids in Baltimore. I intend to put ‘yo’ into use today.
Funny, have a close read of Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ sometime. The Good Professor seems to be having alot of fun with this gender/grammar issue. (hint: where is it made clear that Bifur and Nori are male?
The Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit back in the 70’s even referenced the joke although few viewers noticed.
I wonder if the recently announced Hobbit film will continue the ambiguity, perhaps by becoming the first major theatrical film to embrace the ‘yo’ . (Kinda like that Shatner/Esperanto movie.
Yo cargocult.
Those Baltimoreans stole yo from us in Philly. Ever see Rocky? Yo Adrian ring a bell?
You guys in Baltimore have The Wire, what do we have, the Iggles? Come on.
Maybe for a thread entitled “so tasty,” you should have used the pretzel picture from the previous thread; pretzels are definitely good and tasty food!
“Yo” might be gender-neutral, but come on…you know if a white person uses it they’re probably gonna be called out as racist. Especially these days.
As far as Huckabee is concerned…much as I find his positions abhorrent, I love how up-front he is about it. Seeing his supporters squirm when you question them about some of his more out-there statements is quite fun ^_^.
*hell, I’ll just keep commenting…I’m bored and waiting for my caffeine to kick in*
I’m thinking it would be good for Clinton if Edwards stays in, mainly from how aggressive and vociferous the Obama supporters have been re: trying to get people who support Edwards to switch to him (which I’ve found to be very distasteful and off-putting). Now the general is one thing and people who vote for anyone but the Dem at that point pretty much have their head up their ass and blood on their hands, but in the primaries I think people should vote for whoever they want to (unless they’re in a state that’s pretty much a lock for one of the candidates and want to have fun by toying with Romney voting or something).
If yo takes over, I’ll use it. But I do take a bit of exception to the idea that “finally” an organic gender-neutral pronoun has emerged, because the use of they as the singular gender-neutral term is just as organic. People needed it, people use it, people understand it.
Maybe yo fills the need more completely. They only works in some cases, as in “When someone needs a word, they use one.” It doesn’t work as well in “They put their report in their briefcase.”
Ah well, I am fast approaching curmudgeon age, so this really won’t be mine to solve for the culture. For now, I’ll stick with they and cheer on the youngsters.
I think white people can get away with the pronoun ‘yo’ if we sell it as a contraction of the phrase : “yon being of undetermined gender”
When a person needs a word, they use one.
When someone needs a word, yo uses one.
In my high school, there was a home-school option for people who were going to be unable to attend classes for a long period of time. This included people who were having babies, or were recovering from a long illness or injury that didn’t prohibit them from completing their coursework. That way, they wouldn’t fall behind in their classes and they’d get to graduate on time with everyone else, and they weren’t really being granted any special leniency (not that I’d have a problem if they were) so everyone was happy.
I attended a redneck-ass high school in a redneck-ass town, and this stuff was a no-brainer. We had a dedicated teacher who met once a week with the emergency homeschool kids. We didn’t have a lot of resources, so it’s pretty silly that Denver can’t figure out a way to meet these kids’ needs.
If I may quote Whats Her Face; “Dag, yo!”
Mid-Atlantic dialects, customs, and accents seem to be so insular, which sort of surprises me, because it’s a part of the country that’s basically a big stream of traffic in and out. I was amused on a recent episode when McNulty mentioned eating scrapple, since friends of mine from Pennsylvania always mention that as the hangover cure of choice, like menudo is where I come from. I realized, though, that I had no idea what’s in scrapple, so I had to look it up. It appears to be a pork mushed up with flour.
Amanda, it’s Johns Hopkins, not John Hopkins!
-JHU grad
I don’t think “yo” is going to work for me like this. I just can’t imagine it as anything but an explanation and a contraction of “your”.
Kyso said:
“Temporary disability” is as close as we get to accurately describing the condition, especially when you’re suing.”
Are you being funny? Who sues for losses suffered as a result of pregnancy? “Disability” is legally not an accurate term through which to describe the situation of finding yourself pregnant, although it may accurately describe one’s social and educational predicament.
Bottom line: if teens are not prepared to use condoms, then they shouldn’t have sex. Parents have a responsibility to educate their children about the “disabilities” of pregnancy and STDs, even if school systems fail in this respect.
pretzels are definitely good and tasty food!
Not so much if you
pass out drunk while eating themchoke on them.Amanda wrote:
As nearly as I could tell, scrapple is the floor sweepings from the meat packing plant.
When I first moved to Delaware from the Old Dominion, my work friends insisted that I had to try scrapple. We would all have breakfast at some diner before working on Saturdays, so I agreed to try it. One thing was obvious: I could see why most of them covered it up with catsup.
When Pippen and Merry wouldn’t eat the meat thrown at them by the orcs, from what kind of animal they had no idea, it was clear: the orcs threw them some scrapple.
Zu: Pretzels, like any other food, don’t taste nearly as good when going in the wrong direction!
Maybe for a thread entitled “so tasty,” you should have used the pretzel picture from the previous thread; pretzels are definitely good and tasty food!
Yeah, a picture of a pretzel would fit perfectly with a post about eating links.
Lillian Garland and Female employees of GE
It’s been a legally accurate term since the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and as far as I know it still is.
Wow: I had no idea that pregnancy leave was legally catagorized as a “disability” leave. My bad.
In any case, it seems pathetic that pregnant high school students would have to fight for their rights to return to school after giving birth and taking the time needed to adjust. But what seems far more pathetic is that these girls (children) are getting pregnant in the first place.
If you look at pregnancy as a “disability,” then these young women and their children will be “disabled” for the rest of their lives. The right to go back to finish school does not begin to address the disadvantages they will face.
“If you look at pregnancy as a “disability,” then these young women and their children will be “disabled” for the rest of their lives. The right to go back to finish school does not begin to address the disadvantages they will face.”
I don’t think you’re understanding the situation. Pregnancy, while not a disability per se, does not fit into any of the other patriarchial norms that were established when it was only the men folks who had to work for a living. Under what more appropriate law would you seek redress if you were a woman fired from her place of employment for being pregnant? Which more appropriate law would you read if you needed to find what rights apply to your position (of carrying, temporarily, a parasite that is sucking the nutrients from your bloodstream every moment of the day, and could lead to gross complications when the parasitic relationship is severed)?
Also, your statement implies (very strangely imo) that if pregnancy is a disability that these women will be disabled forever… because they will be pregnant forever…? I think I see what conclusion you’d like us to draw from this, but it would be much better if you just came out and said it.
“Many women will also likely prefer to remain in control of contraception because it’s their body, their health, and because men are liars.”
Why is this an either/or proposition? Women should maintain full control of their own fertility, but my desire to get more male contraceptive options is about wanting to similarly control my own fertility. Both parties being infertile is perfectly desirable. Redundancy is your friend in these matters.
Ditto. For as long as I can remember.
Foucault, it’s not that the pregnancy is a disability. It’s that the time needed to recover from childbirth should be covered the same as any other *temporary* disasbility. Just as someone who is released from the hospital after having their tonsils out may need a week or two before they are able to return to work, so too a person who just had a baby may need a few extra weeks before they can spend eight hours a day sitting on a hard wooden seat. Many women end up with stitches in rather inconvenient places after having babies, not to mention your milk coming in and assorted other severe discomforts. But the school wanted the girls back the day after they would be released from the hospital or they start accruing unexcused absenses, which turn into detentions, then, presumably, suspensions, then expulsions.
Thanks chingona,
Your explanation makes sense. Never having been pregnant myself, I didn’t consider all of the physical things that can impede one’s speedy return to the classroom.
Quoting kodiak:
“Also, your statement implies (very strangely imo) that if pregnancy is a disability that these women will be disabled forever… because they will be pregnant forever…?”
No: they will be disabled forever because they will be saddled with a needy “parasite” (as you put it) from a very early age. Even if they finish high school, the transition from there to college is difficult enough without a baby in tow. Can you imagine living in a dormitory with your baby? Studying for finals while the baby cries?
I simply think that teen-aged pregnancy is the fast track to a lifetime of missed opportunities and unnecessary hurdles.
The temporary disability stems not from being pregnant (though I’d argue that not being able to roll over in bed, having to grow octopus arms to wipe yourself, constant heartburn, and 24-hr, 40-week-long nausea and vomiting renedered me pretty “disabled”), but from RECOVERY from pregnancy.
You know, like the soreness, and possible stitches from tearing from your vagina to your anus, or possible stitches from an episiotomy, or the more difficult recovery from a c-section, or maybe recovery from spinal fluid leaking from your lumbar puncture (epidural), and then your milk comes in and your breasts swell up like basketballs, even if you’re not going to breastfeed.
You do need time to recover, and the 48 hours for vaginal, 72 for C-section that is the norm among insurance companies doesn’t begin to get you on the road to recovery. Not to mention, sending a mother home with a new baby and no postpartum doula help should be a crime.
What were we saying about “patriarchy,” again?
Huckabee calls for women’s submission.
Also, in breaking news, the sky, recently floated on some political blogs as a possible source of unity in the contentious Democratic primary, is blue.
I think “yo” is limited to America…
Everyone uses “they” anyway, right?
Foucault, the cat’s out of the bag. When the kid already is born, it’s too late for the condom lecture. Sure, having a kid at 15 or 16 is going to make your life a lot more challenging, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your life. My mom was 17 when she got pregnant with me, a freshman in college when I was born. My brother was born two years later, while she still was in college. She studied for finals with crying babies, took us with her to class when the babysitter was sick, whatever she had to do to make the life she wanted. She now has a PhD and a good-paying job with lots of authority. She gave me 50 gazillion condom lectures because she wanted me to have an easier life than she had, and the lesson stuck, but going on and on about the misery that will be the life of any girl who has a baby earlier than the ideal is not going to accomplish anything. One benefit of the path she took - by the time her career was really hitting its stride, we were in high school and pretty independent, while other women of her age and education level were struggling with the physical demands of young children.
Does anyone ever wonder why there are so many hypocrites in a presidential race? Not just this upcoming race, but in all of them. To truly know that anyone of the candidates is not a hypocrite before they are elected is practically zero to none. All of them make good solid arguments, but lets see what truly comes out in the election itself. Will it be a mud slinger? Right now, no one can see that Obama would ever stoop to such low methods, and maybe even Huckabee as well. What about Edwards? Clinton?
Does anyone ever wonder why there are so many hypocrites that run for election? Some are very eloquent and graceful speakers, such as Obama. While others go after issues like a prize fighter, Clinton being one. But what about mudslinging? A lot of people could never see Obama insult and humiliate his opponent(s). Could they see Clinton insulting and degrading her opponents? Edwards? I wonder….
Nick asked:
When the third person plural is appropriate, yes. For the third person singular, no.
Hi chingona,
I’m glad to hear a teen pregnancy narrative with a real-life happy ending. Your mom sounds like a very impressive and determined woman, and I am glad that she was able to make the life she wanted for herself and for you. More often than not, that’s not how teen pregnancy ends.
But you’re right: it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. There are far more “disabling” things that can happen to people, male or female, than an unexpected child.