Because... it's Grammar

[bcholmes]

From an article about a trans death. (That phrase is almost redundant. Articles about trans people in the mainstream media are almost always about our deaths):

The murder of Eddie "Gwen" Araujo Jr. has raised a question of grammar with serious implications for transgender people - should the slain teen who lived as a girl be referred to as he or she?

[...]

Others argued that allowing people to essentially self-declare their gender without undergoing a physical change is too subjective an approach to grammar.

Poor grammar. Taking a beating at the hands of trans people anywhere.

(Some days I think I live in a different world than most reporters).

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Respectfully, virtually all approaches to grammar are subjective. In France, one body lays down the grammatical rules (I would say subjectively, though perhaps they would not). Almost everywhere else, grammar rules are subject to argument, discussion, fluidity, regionalism, arbitrary whim, and leftovers from other languages (cf., the "reason" splitting infinitives is "wrong" in English is that Latin infinitives are single words).

Grammar isn't about word meaning, but that doesn't make it objective.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

Okay, perhaps I should say, "I don't know how this particular issue makes grammar any more subjective than it would otherwise be."