Enby here: I’m neither a transman nor a transwoman, but trans issues affect me.
“Trans” can be a pretty large umbrella. When you get into specifics, I’m not so sure that I’m trans. But I am part of the trans community. Not trans, but also trans. Schrodinger’s trans person.
Consider someone who’s agender. They’d be non-binary, but they also aren’t transitioning to any gender. Ask the GOP which bathroom to use and you can watch their head explode.
IPA is also the International Phonetic Alphabet.
I’m all for recycling, but sometimes it feels like it never ends.
I thought spelling ‘through’ was tough enough though
To a non-native reader (and maybe a few natives) that sentence is insane. It makes more sense as “I thot spelling ‘thru’ was tuff enuff tho,” although I admit I don’t like that very much either.
Aside, if something gets abbreviated a certain way enough times, it might become the word. Like when you want to get dinner at the drive-thru. Also, nobody wants pornography anymore, we’re all into porn now.
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Not exactly what you’re asking, but I have a peeve about acronyms. I suppose acronyms are a kind of abbreviation for common phrases, but often people assume you know the same acronyms as them and start throwing them out like some kind of word salad.
It’s not very hard to make sure everyone is on the same page with whatever TLA (Three-Letter Acronym) you want to use. See how easy that was? Now when I want to talk about my issue with rampant abuse of TLAs, you have an idea what I’m talking about.
You see this problem a lot in academia, software, and honestly probably any industry or hobby space. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s totally fine to use TLAs, brevity is useful in reading and writing. But sometimes those acronyms overlap with other acronyms and add to the confusion. Searching for shows with the BBC might get you the British Broadcasting Company - or pornography. Or if you’re looking for an Automated Teller Machine near you - and get porn again instead. Gosh, is there anything porn can’t do?
Some acronyms are so ubiquitous that it feels silly to define them. Like everyone knows what LOL means, right? Well, unless you’re talking about League of Legends. Or you’re my grandmother who never learned it means “Laugh Out Loud” and signs all of her letters LOL because she thinks it means “Lots Of Love”
I present male and I wear skirts to work. The boss said the dress code was black trousers and I said I don’t wear pants. Never been an issue
That said, it’s totally nerve-wracking to make that stand. If an employer refuses on anything other than a safety concern then it’s just bigotry, straight up.
Don’t work for bigots - which can be a difficult stance to take when you don’t know how you’re going to make rent. People don’t deserve to be put in this position, but as you say it’s the world we live in
I put garlic in just about everything. Probably not really a secret ingredient, but it does go with just about everything
For soup I like to add turmeric for the colour. Also kinda tasty
I took a self defense class once that covered attackers with a knife. Most of the class was around defending against attacks on the belly, the instructor said it was the most obvious target. That makes sense too, it’s high lethality, hurts like a bastard, isn’t protected by bones, and it’s in easy reach for most people.
In the context of fencing, I’d have to guess there’s two things at play. First, if you’re much shorter than your opponent, I’d guess the belly is roughly the same height as where you’ve been practicing striking people anyway. Second, if your opponent is especially tall, then strikes against the belly are further away from his perspective (his eyes are up here), and that might put them at a disadvantage.
I don’t know much about fencing, so correct me where I’m wrong, but I imagine the belly is the physically lowest legal target to score a point? I’d think that technically anybody would be disadvantaged to defend the lowest point, but their height makes it more pronounced. If you’re 5’2" your belly is something like two feet below your eyes, but if you’re 6’3" it’s like three feet. That’s a pretty significant difference.
Bad person, probably not. That’s a harsh descriptor to apply for a single transgression.
I’d call this behaviour to avoid though. Most people don’t like being lied to or ghosted
Sometimes you can’t really avoid it, like if safety is a concern. But if you lie and ghost because feelings are messy then it causes other people to have messy feelings
Pretty sure they only exist in fiction