Instagram Wants You To Add Your Preferred Pronouns To Your Profile
Have you heard the words vis, cos, eir or nee? What about zie, xe, faer or thons? If not, you are not alone. Instagram now allows you to add your pronouns to your profile. These words are some of your pronoun choices.
All of these choices seem to need explanations, Google is a perfect place for such exploration.
When you Google, “What does Thon stand for?” The first answer is the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.
I don’t think people identify as a dance marathon, so further digging was required. According to Miriam Webster dictionary online, “‘Thon’, short for “that one,” appeared in the unabridged dictionary from 1934-1961. Though the word was dropped for lack of use, other gender-neutral pronouns—’they’, ‘their’, and ‘them’—remain.” Further explanation reveals that the “word-making folk” really wanted them to catch on. It was the answer in several crossword puzzles and even cartoons but to no avail, it just wouldn’t stick.
From an etymological standpoint, that’s actually quite interesting. The word has existed for a significant period of time but wasn’t popularly used.
Now, thon is back! People want to use thon, or at least Instagram wants it to catch on, but why? Is there some purpose in being a homogenous, uncharacteristic being? Instagram sure thinks so . . .
