Kirby Conrod·Dec 4, 2017How to do the absolute minimum (with pronouns)If you’re having trouble using someone’s pronouns*, here’s some advice on how not to be a dingus about it: Slow down! Plan your speech! We would rather you talk carefully and thoughtfully if it means you can meet our needs If you’re corrected, LISTEN. I can’t tell you how many…Transgender1 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jul 1, 2019The Problem With Pronoun PracticesI’m at a conference about nonbinary pronouns right now! Or, I was when I started writing this post — but several times at this conference, people have raised the question of how to ask people to share their pronouns without pressuring people to out themselves. Or, the actual issue: how…Transgender6 min read
Kirby Conrod·Sep 28, 2020the president of pronouns gives you permission to just kind of try stuff outI asked on twitter a while back: Cis people, have you ever tried out different pronouns besides your current primary ones? I got a lot of responses like this: -> I want to, but I'm not ready for the conversations that it would bring up. -> I started to try…Pronouns6 min read
Kirby Conrod·Dec 27, 2020pronouns 101: introduction to your loved one’s new pronounsYour loved one (friend? family member? coworker whose feelings you give a shit about?) has asked you to use different pronouns than the ones you’ve been previously using! …Pronouns10 min read
Kirby Conrod·Dec 27, 2020pronouns 102: how to stop messing up pronounsPronouns are hard! There is a reason for that (the reason is… linguistics), but the fact of the matter is, many people find it very difficult to switch pronouns for a person, or to use certain pronouns at all. This post isn’t about getting into the why, but more going…Pronouns8 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jan 7, 2021Intermediate Pronoun Studies: pronouns conflicting with presentationAfter posting Pronouns 101 and Pronouns 102, I’ve started receiving some questions from readers! I will happily answer these anonymously — you can send your own questions to me via my twitter. Dear Kirby, The new Pronouns blog is terrific, and I’ve already sent it to several people. One comment…Pronouns9 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jan 21, 2021ASK A LINGUIST ABOUT… PRONOUNS!For International Pronouns Day on October 21st, 2020, I joined with Nathan Dors from UW IT, who’s been working on incorporating pronouns in UW’s internal ID system, which is used by students, staff, and faculty in academic and professional settings. …Pronouns5 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jan 21, 2021implicit misgenderingIn my AMA on #InternationalPronounsDay 2020, one question I really appreciated was this: Are there times when using they is just as wrong/harmful as using he or she incorrectly? Is there an asymmetry of how hurtful it is when I use the wrong pronoun? Short answer: using they for someone…Pronouns10 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jan 30, 2021intermediate pronoun studies: multiple pronounsAfter posting Pronouns 101 and Pronouns 102, I’ve started receiving some questions from readers! I will happily answer these anonymously — you can send your own questions to me via my twitter. This is my second reader question; the first one I answered in a previous post. From Gloria Mellesmoen…Pronouns16 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jun 8, 2021intermediate pronoun studies: how do I make people stop misgendering me?After posting Pronouns 101 and Pronouns 102, I’ve been receiving more questions from readers! Thusfar, the questions I’ve had have been sort of aimed at how do I avoid misgendering people? Which is great, we love that! This is a question I get occasionally, though, and I’ve gotten it from…Pronouns14 min read
Kirby Conrod·Jul 14, 2021Guest Lecture in Pronouns: VasundharaHello all! I had hoped to get this out in pride month, but it’s falling in wrath month instead; it’s fine, we’re still all totally in our feels this hot nonbinary summer, so we’re good! This is a guest post from Vasundhara Gautam, a computational linguist at Dialpad (moving to…Pronouns9 min read