Public Service Announcement · 3:48pm Feb 9th, 2015

Hallo, FiMFic, Furion here with a quick note regarding something I've recently been seeing a lot of in a number discussions relating to trans issues.

Now to start, let's go ahead and take a look at the definition of "transgender."

"Denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender."

Now you may not agree entirely with it, and it may have its problems, but that is the definition of the term "transgender" as provided by Oxford Dictionaries. That's not what I wanted to discuss in this particular blog; not precisely, at least. What I do want you to look at is the term's classification in the link. Did you notice the term "adjective" in prominent caps?

Then, maybe, did you notice the lack of the term "noun" in similar format?

Yep. This is going to be one of those blogs.

The term "transgender" is an adjective, meaning it is a word that names an attribute that is added to a noun to describe it. It is not, however, itself a noun. I bring this up because I'm seeing a lot of people using phrases like "she is a transgender," or "he is a transgender," (bonus points if using pronouns matching the individual in question's assigned gender rather than the one they identify with, because transphobia is the bee's knees) or even "The transgenders are coming." This is a concern not just because it is grammatically incorrect, but also because it's dehumanising in that it serves to separate a group from other people by refusing to identify them as such.

Now the problem has been identified and stands out in the open. We're clear on it, yeah?

Then sodding stop.

This has been a public service announcement from your favorite editor, administrator, and pseudo-intellectual ponce, Furion. Join us next week as we discuss England's greatest contribution to entertainment: Simon Templeman's voice.

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