The Wrong Pronouns Always Drives Me Crazy!

[Ziggy]

10 hours ago, gbmmbg said:

Pronoun swapping [has] a large number of "shes" that are really "Hes" and vice versa........

That's my biggest gripe! Whenever a Filipino tells me a very long story (in English of course) about a husband and wife, I become completely lost after the first few pronoun swaps.

At that point, I'll have no idea at all about which one said (or did) things to the other one and which one responded to the other one verbally, physically, or in both ways.

[Viking]

On 8/16/2022 at 9:56 PM, Lieutenant Dan said:

My wife, step-daughter, and son are constantly having problems with saying the proper pronouns.

They constantly say:

he instead of she,

she instead of he,

his instead of hers,

hers instead of his, and so on.

I realize that it's difficult for them, but it drives me nuts! I'm constantly correcting them, and I even created and printed charts that say things which include:

He drives his car.

She drives her car.

It seems like such a simple thing to learn, but why on earth is it so difficult for Filipinos to learn this 

 

 

My wife also do this sometimes, even she's been living in Europe for more than 35 years.

I guess old habits are hard to break 😉

[Viking]

11 hours ago, gbmmbg said:

I think some of the issue of the Pronoun swapping is there is a large number of "shes" that are really "Hes" and vice versa........

This was really strange to me when I started traveling to the Philippines.

Now I don't even pay any attention to it, hahaha.

[Kingpin]

5 hours ago, JJReyes said:

the security guard held the door open, saluted and addressed them as, "Ma'am/Sir."

Reminds me that with buying inquiries online, chat, or text, the sellers almost always assume that I, as the buyer, am a "ma'am".  And I'm not talking about buying feminine care products or anything like that. Houses, appliances, anything.

 

 

[JJReyes]

There are all kinds of new rules being advocated.  We are no longer allowed to use, "Chairman," and instead use, "Chairperson."  No more, "Postman."  The correct term is, "Postal Worker."  Could someone think up a neutral word like, "It" so that it is neither masculine or feminine.  Ahh!  Just broke another new rule.  You have to start with feminine, followed by masculine or else be considered a male, chauvinist pig.  Female comes first to make up for centuries of male domination.

[Mike J]

8 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

Could someone think up a neutral word like, "It" so that it is neither masculine or feminine. 

They already did that in Texas.  You're welcome "Yall". 

[hk blues]

6 hours ago, Mike J said:

They already did that in Texas.  You're welcome "Yall". 

And even when they're only talking to one person!

[JJReyes]

13 hours ago, Mike J said:

They already did that in Texas.  You're welcome "Yall". 

That's no fun.  You need a contest offering a prize the size of Texas - millions.

[Ziggy]

On 8/19/2022 at 7:00 AM, JJReyes said:

That's no fun.  You need a contest offering a prize the size of Texas - millions.

PHP or US Dollars? 

[Ziggy]

It's been a few months but my lessons are really starting to pay off. Asawa now says proper Americanized English, correct gender pronouns and all.

When we lived in the Philippines, I was starting to speak like the locals--e.g., "more better" instead of much better.

Now, I'm the one always being corrected by Asawa. When I said that something that we ate was more yummy (just like it had previously been said by her), she corrected me by saying yummier. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Lieutenant Dan