First person singular and third person singular. Both singular.

Yeah - that’s probably all true. Most people seem to cope with “you singular” and “you plural” in English but struggle with “they/them singular” and “they/them plural”. I’m not sure why.

“I goes”. Incorrect “They goes”. Incorrect

“They” can quite happily function as singular. I asked my friend about this and they gave me their opinion. They told me that they use “they” or “them” to discuss people when their biological sex is unimportant or unknown. I would like to ask them more but they have to leave. They tell me that they’ll be back later.

They (singular) say something. He/she/it says something. They (all) say something. You (all) say something. I say something. You (singular) say something. You’ll notice “he/she/it” seems to be the irregular outlier here. English is strange.

Historically speaking I imagine that’s true. I’m not sure why anyone felt the need to “correct” the word in the first place. Especially if it transpires they did so incorrectly…

Yeah. Pretty much. The original quote by Marx would’ve been in German I assume - which might make a difference. Looking at the US’s painkiller problems “opiate” is possibly more relevant. It’s a negligible difference either way. (Unless a linguist knows better)

Opiates include artificially lab-constructed products that are based off of the opium that comes from poppies.

One potential answer would be to use “neè” which is translated as “born”. Often used in relation to a bride having changed their last name. e.g. Mrs. Williams neè Smith. That way you’d know that Mrs. Williams used to be Ms. Smith previously. Both are/were valid names - but at different times in the person’s life. Once you establish that the person has gone under a different name previously you can return to using the current name (and any change of pronoun) for all other mentions.

I pretty much agree with all of that but wanted to add that when BlackBerry BB10 was discontinued (miss you, Z30) I had the option of Microsoft, Google or Apple. I chose the least bad of a poor bunch… The original monopolists or an ad-obsessed stalker were of no interest to me.

Just had to check I wasn’t miraculously back on Apollo trawling the Snoo site. Thanks for the laugh…

Good. I’m glad. I had my suspicions that was the case but it’s nice to have it confirmed by an insider. I always struggled to believe that an entire nation of so many millions of people would have a one size fits all pro/anti stance on any one topic; it’d be absurd.

Are you familiar with sarcasm / irony / satire? I’m quoting and subsequently mangling a slogan from 1985. (c. Forty years ago) Surely you haven’t taken that comment at face value?

Pepsi - the choice of a new generation… of woke, pronoun-shifting libtards. As an aside I like your spelling. It’s reminded me to listen to Ice Cube’s Amerikkka’s Most Wanted again.

Yeah - in non US places gun ownership only means one thing: you own a gun. It says nothing about your politics. And yes, US democrats being referred to as “left” is ridiculous. The Democrat party wouldn’t even be a centrist party in most (western) democracies.

Alabama? More like Talibana, a’ight? Being ruled by religious extremists - in the 21st (ce) century - blows my mind. Are people still that backwards? Apparently, yes. Nothing wrong with a bit of private faith in the sky man if it helps you in life… but to be a fundamentalist is unforgivable.

Yes. That’s exactly what’s happening here. Big shout out to drugs for winning the war…

Thanks, my friend. I shall take a look at that.

I understand someone’s economic views would necessarily push them to one side or the other but what I’ve never understood is why gun ownership is so political in the US. From where I am it just seems sad that there’s people in a first world democracy that “need” to be armed just to go out and buy an ice cream. It blows my mind that more isn’t done by all sides (political, manufacturing and citizens) to lower the body count. Any society where members of the public are indiscriminately gunning each other down surely has a big problem. I have zero problems with fire arms - just their application in the US seems a bit fucked. But, like you said about the police, if your biggest gun-toting gang are that trigger happy and indiscriminate then I can’t really blame everyone else packing as a result. Kind of a chicken and egg situation. Hope it works out for you all one day.

Damn. I knew about elephants and donkeys but now I’ve got to read up on rhinos… all jokes aside it looks like polarisation is the problem - which is the two party problem. It must be so frustrating to have views you can’t sensibly talk about objectively with the majority of your peers.

Yeah. Succinctly put. I hope things improve, or at least change, at some stage; but as I said in another reply I don’t think the short term prognosis looks too healthy. Best of luck to you.