[ SECRET POST #2751 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2751 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 043 secrets from Secret Submission Post #393.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - tar fields, I assume. No more linking after this. If you want to play a character, do it in the Games thread or a roleplay community, please ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[kallanda_lee]

The problem is words do have meaning and connotations.

"Missing" is generally used to describe something that one once had but was lost, or something that is desired but lacking, or perceived as such. If you saw a man with one eye you could say he was missing an eye, but you probably wouldn't say he was "missing" a mustache unless this was a man who typically had facial hair and now doesn't.

The thing there is that everyone is assumed to have two eyes, wile not everyone's assumed to have a mustache. A lot of the language and rhetoric around having kids assumes having kids as default, and that certainly is a mentality that should be questioned, especially in this world.

Being described as "missing" children is unfortunately something that is very common for childless or childfree people. So you know, in some cases it IS good to question wording. You read the comment as a joke, I didn't. I didn't read it as malignant, either, but sometimes re-evaluating word use is interesting in very practical, non-acedemic ways.

This sort of turned out longer than intended, but yeah...

[(Anonymous)]

This. There is nothing wrong with simply saying that one doesn't have children instead of using the word "missing." That's actually exactly why the term "childfree" came about as opposed to "childless" - because the "-less" portion of the word implies that you are missing or lacking something by not having children, which isn't the case for those who have decided not to have kids. There's an important distinction to be drawn between childless people who would like to have children but can't or don't for whatever reason and people who don't want them at all.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for explaining the distinction so elegantly.

English is full of this kind of nuance. Look at all those English adjectives that have come to exceptionality simply because that's how they're typically used. "Spry" is only ever used to describe people that you wouldn't EXPECT to be spry (e.g. 90-year-olds - how often have you heard of spry toddlers?), and it seems to me that (more insidiously) "articulate" is often used in the same way.

[(Anonymous)]

all you people need to get the fuck over yourselves. the language ain't perfect. there's no way it's ever going to be. just take people for what they mean and stop assuming the worst out of everything.

[kallanda_lee]

It's funny how "all of us" (whoever that may be) need to get over ourselves, while you're the one who clearly has very strong feelings about this. I was explaining something in a calm and civil way, yet apparently even that makes you upset.

[(Anonymous)]

Well said. The heart of the matter is "missing" implies (and not all too subtly at that) "less than complete", as if a woman NEEDS to have a child in order to be initiated into "full" womanhood. The funny thing is, you rarely, if ever, hear a man being defined that way.