Word: pronouns
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...pronoun should at least agree with the subject, for Chrissake...
Today, we happily live in a society where most people consider "he" and "she" to be equal--as people, at least. As a pronoun, however, "she" still hits the grammatical glass ceiling while "he" runs rampant, masquerading as a "gender-unspecific pronoun" that represents both men and women. But the supposition that "he" or "his" may refer to both sexes is ludicrous, since study after study has shown that people of both sexes take this pronoun to refer exclusively to a male. The elusive "gender unspecific pronoun" represents a gap between the rules of grammar and the rules of society...
...been last week when he gave us a non-denial denial). The voice was stronger, but the tap-dance continued: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." Define the ambiguous "sexual relations." Note the Ciceronian use of the perjorative as well as demonstrative pronoun, "that." He then left the room, taking no questions. We are told he won't do so until all the information has been assembled. What information...
...closet. Many of us are conservative politically. Many of us believe that getting ahead is most important. A Harvard student may choose not to write a term paper with a queer theme to accommodate a professor's homophobia. A Harvard student may choose tactfully omit a pronoun to avoid revealing the gender of a lover. A Harvard queer knows when and how to pass as straight--we know what to say, how to smile and how to dress. We can slip in and out from subculture to mainstream and back again because we want to be in that sorority...
...real excitement on this little EP, however, comes with the next three tracks. Together, they are smart, varied, powerful and uncompromising. At first, "As If Your Life Depended On It" seems to be a condemnation of used women in the vein of Hatfield's rant "Supermodel." However, an intricate pronoun game at work in the song reveals its actual subject: Hatfield herself. Instead of saying "I" over and over, Hatfield starts the song out in the second person, pointedly commenting on an unknown woman's pathetic dependency: "Crack a joke/light his smoke/as if your life depended...