‘Is This Practice Taking Off?’
It’s October 2020, and Peter FitzSimons has just discovered preferred pronouns.
It’s October 2020, and Peter FitzSimons has just discovered preferred pronouns:
Interesting, I just got a note from a nice bloke, who I'll call Fred Flintstone, and he signed like this.
— Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) September 29, 2020
Fred Flintstone
(He/him)
Media Manager
My question. Is putting "(He/him)" beneath your signature a nod to the gender you identify with? And is this practice taking off?
Pete’s wasted the last ten years of his life on Twitter, but somehow hasn’t noticed the proliferation of "he/him", "she/her" and "they/them" in thousands of Twitter profiles.
In other revelation developments, the Guardian’s Amanda Meade (needs/help) discovers the purpose of quotation marks:
A Guardian Australia reporter has accidentally suggested late singer-songwriter Helen Reddy was her mother …
Amanda Meade, the Guardian’s media writer and a former journalist on The Australian, wrote it was “with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Helen Reddy” in a social media post on Wednesday …
Meade is not related to Reddy, who has died aged 78. The singer is survived by her two children, Traci and Jordan.
Meade quickly retracted her post and apologised. She said the note had been issued by Reddy’s family.
“So sorry … this is from Helen Reddy’s family,” she wrote.
“Should have quotation marks.
“She is not my mother. Sorry everyone.”
Various research-averse media types – including Ten’s Tegan George, the ABC’s Karen Percy and always-confused Benjamin Law – consoled Meade on her non-loss.