D&D 5E So long and thanks for all the fish!

[Lidgar]

There is definitely a poll in here somewhere.

 

[transtemporal]

All in all, if you're not finding conversation, here, it's because you're not seeking it out. There have been numerous "help me, I'm a newb" threads, recently, so it's not that. I haven't looked at what your other 9 posts were, but one thing this community is unlikely to do (IME) is hand out pats on the head for "cute" ideas that really don't have any meat to them.

This is kinda harsh, but also true. Sometimes people don't respond or they don't immediately know how to respond to the post. I know I sometimes ponder a post for hours before I reply. Enworld isn't an instant gratification channel.

 

[SunGold]

Can this thread make the "Best of the 5e Forum" sticky?

Actually, a stickied flounce thread isn't a terrible idea.

"If you're gonna flounce...flounce in this."

 

[BoldItalic]

A flounce thread might be interesting but possibly weird, to judge from this one.

 

[MoonSong]

English has actually had gender-neutral third-person pronouns for centuries. Shakespeare and Lord Byron used the singular "they", for instance. My understanding is that this is uncontroversial in non-American English-speaking countries, but in America the singular they became another political hill to die upon because we'll do that crap with just about anything. I remember about a decade or so ago when light bulbs became this huge, divisive political flashpoint. We're a pretty ridiculous people.

That said, English grammar is mostly a melting pot of ever-changing guesswork where there are more exceptions than "rules", no matter where you live and speak the language. It's enough to make one wonder why some folks get so bent out of shape over those so-called "rules".

Since this thread is all over the place anyways I will just point out that the "singular they" works very well, and I often find it a positive to have conversations without knowing genders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

Wait a little plz. I'm aware of singular they, and I prefer descriptivism. I just commented on [MENTION=92511]steeldragons[/MENTION] using "he/she". If we were using a different language we either would quickly know Thedip's gender from the way he talks or wouldn't need to know it at all. You know, because of speech patterns or gendered adjectives and nouns.

 

[Gradine]

Wait a little plz. I'm aware of singular they, and I prefer descriptivism. I just commented on [MENTION=92511]steeldragons[/MENTION] using "he/she". If we were using a different language we either would quickly know Thedip's gender from the way he talks or wouldn't need to know it at all. You know, because of speech patterns or gendered adjectives and nouns.

I'm not going to dig into most of the particulars of this post, because doing so would likely end in this thread getting locked, and considering the fine content of this thread that would be a severe tragedy. I'll simply point out that you said this, in reference to the English language:

"and you need to use gender to refer to people in the third person."

...and the jolly recluse and I were simply pointing out that that isn't actually true. Thus, even in English, there's no actual need to know an individual's gender in order to talk about them.

 

[SunGold]

I'm not going to dig into most of the particulars of this post, because doing so would likely end in this thread getting locked, and considering the fine content of this thread that would be a severe tragedy.

I wrote up an entire "lolwut" response to that last post an then erased it. Not worth it.

 

[Gradine]

I wrote up an entire "lolwut" response to that last post an then erased it. Not worth it.

That about mirrors my own process

 

[MoonSong]

I'm not going to dig into most of the particulars of this post, because doing so would likely end in this thread getting locked, and considering the fine content of this thread that would be a severe tragedy. I'll simply point out that you said this, in reference to the English language:

"and you need to use gender to refer to people in the third person."

...and the jolly recluse and I were simply pointing out that that isn't actually true. Thus, even in English, there's no actual need to know an individual's gender in order to talk about them.

Sorry. I'll try not to further pursue this, but if I'm not allowed to use my mother tongue or one of the others I can use, at least I was trying to talk about them? English can be so dry at times.

(The last time you'll hear this topic from me I swear: singular they to talk about a concrete person is non-standard and isn't common enough. For an indefinite/abstract/generic person, of course, but to talk about a concrete person we do need to know)

 

[SunGold]

to talk about a concrete person we do need to know

This is an English-only messageboard. In English, you do not need to know. This has now been pointed out (twice) and you have already defensively posted that you know this. Let it go.

Someone please post more comedy gold now, thx.