A linguist on why some people struggle with pronouns

For me it's just a grammar issue. I don't really care what people call themselves, but every time I see someone using different pronouns than usual it's like a reflexive thought of 'something is wrong here'. My English teachers in school had too much of an impression on me I guess.

Also some people take it too far. They/them makes sense, but there seem to be a lot of people who just literally make up words to use. There's one person I know in real life who wants his pronoun to be 'zen'. Like come on, zen? is that really necessary?... no offense intended to anyone of course.

 

I honestly don't get this issue at all. Call me he, call me she. I don't care either way. I've been called both even when I'm not dressed in a way that would make people think I'm a girl.

 

Thank you for sharing, Cailan! I'll definitely check it out!

 

Ugh, I'll never forget the horrid 'mugshot' quizzes my teachers put me through. Although to this day I still hardly know how to use commas and semicolons.

I'm not quite sure I understand it either, but I suppose it's a decent alternative to him/her pronouns that doesn't assume plurality. I'm sure it makes more sense to people who prefer gender neutral pronouns such as ze/zir/zen. The only people I knew who used gender neutral pronouns were on the debate circuit.