I was in Prague for a few days with my family, so we wandered into a bookstore, as one does, and came across these pretty Czech editions of "Catwings" and "The Telling." @ursulakleguin.bsky.social
Whereas it doesn't matter at all in Dutch what gender a noun is, you could make them all non-binary and their meaning wouldn't change. You'd just have to adjust the pronouns so you're not calling objects "he." Yet it makes people so...uncomfortable if you get it wrong.
<checks "UK" in Dutch> Hmmm, Het Verenigd Koninkrijk. <goes to find spouse> "Why isn't it 'Het Verenigde Koninkrijk'? 'Het rijk' is neuter, but shouldn't the adjective still end in an 'e' after a definite article?" Spouse agrees that it should and has no idea why it doesn't.
Dutch doesn't have cases, but my misgendering of nouns plays a similar role in my family's conversation.
My unread-book guilt is off the charts now.
I made her a carrier bag, which she carried on multiple occasions. I embroidered the words "Carrier bag" and "baggier care" on the strap. We will never stop missing her.
From "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder": "I liked your reference to Le Guin's "Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction." Of course; who wouldn't? @ursulakleguin.bsky.social
“The misuse of language induces evil in the soul”--Socrates, quoted by @ursulakleguin.bsky.social, 2006. For a while that was her email signature line.
That archive must be a huge treasure trove. I know @ursulakleguin.bsky.social published with Gollancz for years and had a lot of personal correspondence with John Bush and Joanna Goldsworthy. Who would let that go?