Sunday, July 27, 2008

Pronoun Trouble



Being new to the female avatar world, I'm adjusting to pronoun usage like "he" and "she"

The subject amuses me, bringing to mind an old Bugs Bunny cartoon with a short Bugs and Daffy "Pronoun Trouble" skit:

Rabbit Seasoning is most noted for an extended dialogue sequence in which Bugs' plays-on-words cause Daffy "pronoun trouble":

Bugs: It's true, Doc; I'm a rabbit alright. Would you like to shoot me now or wait 'til you get home?
Daffy: Shoot him now! Shoot him now!
Bugs: You keep outta this! He doesn't have to shoot you now!
Daffy: He does so have to shoot me now! [to Elmer] I demand that you shoot me now!
[Elmer looks at the camera, unsure if Daffy knows what he's talking about. As Daffy sticks his tongue out at Bugs, he is shot. Daffy walks back over to Bugs, gunsmoke pouring out of his nostrils]
Daffy: [to Bugs] Let's run through that again.
Bugs: Okay.
Bugs: [deadpan] Would you like to shoot me now or wait till you get home.
Daffy: [similarly] Shoot him now; shoot him now.
Bugs: [as before] You keep outta this, he doesn't have to shoot you now.
Daffy: [re-animated] Hah! That’s it! Hold it right there! [to audience] Pronoun trouble. [to Bugs] It's not "he doesn't have to shoot you now", it's "he doesn't have to shoot me now"
[Pause]
Daffy: [angrily] Well, I say he does have to shoot me now!! [to Elmer] So shoot me now!
[Elmer obliges and lets him have it]


I'll refer to myself in the female gender when I'm a female avatar, and speak of myself as male when I'm a male avatar. For those who have known me since I first rezzed upon the Grid, I won't go postal if you refer to femPhin as a "he" .. no worries here.

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