The Old Hack

It all has to do with usage rather than specific forms. Words change character according to the way they are most generally employed as well as the intent behind their use. 'Feminist' started as an insult, then was claimed as a badge of pride by those it was used against. 'Faggot' used to mean a mere length of wood employed as fuel for a fire and then became a slur in at least some parts of the English-speaking world. In a world without racism the N-word and its original Latin form might have been a mere indicator of colour but it is now widely considered one of the foulest slurs in the entire language... except when it is used ironically by the people it was meant to dehumanise. (I almost used 'denigrate' here, which would have been the height of irony -- I caught myself in time and looked up the etymology of the damned word and it means 'to blacken'!) In short, whether a word is a slur, a profound offence or a mere descriptor varies with general usage, the era it is employed in, the person using it and the intent behind its use. This can be the veriest maze and the only way one can really be certain of what one is doing is to keep up with the people the word is meant to be applied to -- which means asking them, if you are not sure. There are transgender people who might not take offence at it, most of them having half a century or more to their name; theirs was a different era and they lived under different threats. But today a lot of trans people feel differently about it. The way to go, I feel, is to use the term each individual prefers, to ask if one is unsure and to attempt to be graceful when correcting someone who uses a slur without realising and who genuinely has no ill intent. There are so-called 'activists' who will pounce on every single mistake and gleefully denounce the person making it; these tend to be shallow creatures and their actions are very much counterproductive. But there are also genuine victims who have grown very tired of having their humanity denied and we really ought to show some respect for their feelings.

That is the most likely possibility. And it wasn't as if it were a huge hassle, it just gave me an embarrassing delay I hadn't expected.

Not to worry. I do hope I did not come across as offended or rude; I was a bit tired when I wrote my reply and didn't take care in how I phrased myself. Sorry. I as well. My corrections are in the spirit of one who has made such mistakes as well. Let us try to help one another in this for I am certainly not perfect either.

I agree without reservations. However, it is still Tedd's decision. Any action here should by preference be to convince her to have it out with her father. Whether Tedd's fears are reasonable or not is a moot point -- they are nonetheless real and in order for her to be able to deal as competently as possible with a heartbreakingly difficult issue, she first needs to face and master her fears. Forcing the confrontation on her when she is not ready for it may not do her any favours.

I can see your concern but I simply do not agree with it. Mr. Verres is already making Tedd's life unsafe with his attitude. He cannot learn that Tedd is 'gender-fluid' as long as he refuses to acknowledge that it is even a thing. He can at most and worst be hardened in his attitude that something is wrong with Tedd. And whether they so inform Arthur is also a moot point. No matter what, the man is not a blabbermouth. Even if Mr. Verres started to argue this with Arthur, Arthur would merely coldly shut him down by informing him that Tedd's services are needed. As for Tedd's and Mr. Verres' relationship, it is already hanging by a thread. The only way Mr. Verres could make it worse would be by attempting to get Tedd 'treatment' for his 'condition', and I cannot see him act with such abject stupidity. Also, please do not use the word 'transgendered'. Use 'transgender' or 'trans' whenever possible.

Err, I think we may have a miscommunication here. I said as long as it is the case referring to his seeing Tedd's gender identity as a sickness/perversion. Should he actually get past that, it will of course no longer be the case. Though I will add that even bigotry is not necessarily permanent as it is often rooted in fear. Once the fear is out of the equation and the bigot has had the opportunity to see what he feared as human beings, at least some bigots have been known to reconsider their stance.

There is no question of Tedd being outed to Mr. Verres. Mr. Verres already knows that Tedd switches back and forth between male and female. The problem is that Mr. Verres is transphobic and does not even acknowledge that genderfluidity is real. Whether due to ignorance or bigotry, he sees Tedd's gender identity as a sickness or even a perversion. As long as that is the case, Arthur could yell at Edward all day long and it would not change a thing.

At least we have the advantage that we CAN'T do harm. We are just readers sitting in an alternate universe debating the labyrinthine ethics of the situation.

http://www.egscomics.com/comic/sister3-288

@TamarTree: BEAUTIFUL.

Another point to consider: that Arthur may already be aware of the involved social issues and that he is simply choosing to respect what Tedd is. It is not as if the different gender possibilities are kept under a Masquerade the same way magic used to be; it is merely that bigotry, transphobia and homophobia makes it fraught for those who are not cishet vanilla to be open about it. As to Mr. Verres, how could it possibly be a problem? He already knows that Tedd shifts between male and female. He is merely allowing his transphobia to tell himself that Tedd is male because he was AMAB and that what Tedd does is 'unhealthy' for him. It might even do him good if his old boss and mentor challenges that assumption. Errrr... that is deeply problematic. The reasoning in the above seems to be that it is okay to out someone as long as you have discovered their secret on your own rather than being entrusted it by them. And it isn't. It really isn't. If someone isn't ready to come out, outing them against their will is an act of violence against them. It doesn't matter if they are trusting you not to or if they have no idea that you have found out. If Justin hadn't told Melissa he was gay and she instead had worked it out from his behavior, and then subsequently let that slip to her gleeful gossip of a sister, Justin would have been just as outed and his life would still have been wrecked by the consequences.

Maybe it isn't from a dragon. It might just be a scale from a bigger fish.

Look, Eve turned fourteen just a month ago. She's only being a teenager, this is something she will work out on her own in time. Puberty is a rough time, so cut her a break.

Yes you are. But if you think they are actually paying attention, I have a Khufu pyramid I want to sell to you.

How fickle fame.

To the best of my knowledge, yes. That was what happened roughly every third month with my old one. Which badly needs replacing.

So let me introduce to you, the one and only Pharaoh, and Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

Yeah yeah. As if the conservative arts are all that much better. Muttermuttergrumble. ... ...what?

Classic. I remember reading Feynman's autobiography where he among other things described his work at Los Alamos. At one point, to his utter astonishment, he received a private visit from Nobel prize winning physicist Niels Bohr and his son, acting as interpreter. Turned out that Bohr had noticed that where everyone else nodded in awe at every pronunciation from him, this young sprat scowled and seemed to worry at his ideas. So he discussed them with Feynman because Feynman actually argued against them and wanted more proofs. Or as another book I read put it, "Recognising your own weaknesses and taking steps to correct them is rare. And praiseworthy."

HAHAHA! XD

Actually Sebastian Haffner was convinced that after Hitler realised that Germany had probably lost the war, he did just that in order to increase casualties on both sides and to ensure that Germany was left a smoking ruin upon the war's end. He wanted to punish Germany for being insufficient to sate his ambition and hoped it would be forever ruined as a nation after his death. Though even if that is true, that still doesn't in any way at all make him 'good.'

Meh. Your head is just full of smoke on the water, and fire in the sky.

I do.

Doing staunch feline duty. You need to keep an eye on the humans, after all. Gods know what they would get up to if they didn't have cats watching them.

Indeed.