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Don’t mind me, just walking down the street, enjoying a nice wonderful day, when all of a sudden a homeless person! Gasp, its like they aren’t even people. —Ignorance is a walk down the road 😉
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.
14 Comments
Don’t mind me, just sitting here, enjoying a beautiful morning, when all of a sudden an incomprehensible bitch! Gasp, it’s like OB is not a real person.
OB, how do you know that you have encountered a “homeless” person. Did you stop to chat? Not all panhandlers are homeless. Just as not all homeless are panhandlers.
How did you know he was a panhandler?
I think this bitch is sardonic. not a complaint about homeless people.
Sorry, but complete strangers coming up and asking me for something is annoying. I get that they are people, I feel bad for them, but I donate to the food bank and the United Way. There are resources available for them to become a productive members of society. Many of them are addicted to substances and I’m not going to help support that habit. So if my “No, sorry.” makes me inhumane in your eyes, OB, so be it.
moonman said; “How did you know he was a panhandler?”
How do you know the homeless person was a he?
The alleged homeless person was non-binary trans and are therefore “they”.
What’s the difference between sardonicism and sarcasm? I always get the impression that sardonicism is the sarcasm of the intellectual elite.
Off topic, there was a very pregnant lady panhandling at Quinpool and Robie. She got a toonie from me.
When all of a sudden a homeless person… did what? Left us hanging in suspense is one thing, so far.
Crispy,
I think there was a story in the Herald about the gal you helped out. I’m usually not a bleeding heart type and generally expect people to make the most of their situation but this story is tragic from top to bottom:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1241674-pregnant-woman-trying-to-find-way-off-street
RSVP
The Pussy (11:33AM)
“How did you know the homeless person was a he?”
There is a convention in narrative English that ascribes the male gender to those for whom no specific gender has been assigned. In other words, when the gender is in doubt one normally uses the male pronoun. Come to think of it, how do I know you are he? Maybe your pseudonym was made to deceive and you too are a male.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
^^^ “There is a convention in narrative English that ascribes the male gender to those for whom no specific gender has been assigned. “
Not according to the Oxford English Dictionary:
“In the past, people tended to use the pronouns he, his, him, or himself in situations like this:
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Today, this approach is seen as outdated and sexist. You can use the plural pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’, ‘their’ etc., despite the fact that, technically, they are referring back to a singular noun:
If your child is thinking about a gap year, they can get good advice from this websit
Some people object to the use of plural pronouns in this type of situation on the grounds that it’s ungrammatical. In fact, the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject isn’t new: it represents a revival of a practice dating from the 16th century. It’s increasingly common in current English and is now widely accepted both in speech and in writing. “
“Some people object to the use of the plural pronouns in this type of situation on the grounds that it’s ungrammatical. In fact, the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject isn’t new….”
That is incoherent. There is no connection between an objection raised on the grounds that the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject is ungrammatical and the fact that it isn’t new. Grammar and temporality are independent categories. I will be contacting the Oxford English Dictionary shortly.
Shallow?
Yours truly.