# Plural being? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2018, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383 "2018-01-11T09:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/21 "2018-01-11T16:04:23Z")
This could just be the consequence of a bubble mentality. It could also be that some conservatives are having some fun at the expense of Google’s tolerance culture and the SJWs aren’t in on the joke yet. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/22 "2018-01-11T16:21:05Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > If believing you are a dragon is not a mental disorder then I don’t know what is. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Agreed. Anyone who thinks that they are another species (living or mythical) or an inanimate object is fucking insane. It’s only a disorder if it impairs their functioning. Given that they seem to have enough of a handle on it to give presentations, and are employed at frigging Google, I’d say it’s not really impairing much of anything, absent further evidence. So while it’s mentally _abnormal_ and socially deviant, I wouldn’t call it a _disorder_ until impairment sets in. But IANAPsy. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/23 "2018-01-11T17:10:18Z")
And I thought this was going to be another re-hash of Citizens United. A corporation counts as a plural being, right? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/24 "2018-01-11T17:15:44Z")
“My name is Legion: for we are many.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/25 "2018-01-11T19:28:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s only a disorder if it impairs their functioning. Given that they seem to have enough of a handle on it to give presentations, and are employed at frigging Google, I’d say it’s not really impairing much of anything, absent further evidence. > > So while it’s mentally _abnormal_ and socially deviant, I wouldn’t call it a _disorder_ until impairment sets in. But IANAPsy. Being functionally insane is still being insane. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/26 "2018-01-11T19:31:45Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Debatist Ben Shapiro was commenting on Liberals/Socialists/Leftists and declared that “they” abhor the idea of you being an individual. I don’t think it counts as being a debatist if he’s arguing with the voices in his head. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/27 "2018-01-11T19:34:17Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I agree, but politeness is a two way street. If you get it wrong, you shouldn’t be treated like you’ve committed a criminal offense. People are getting a little touchy these days. Pronunciation of names is becoming a similar issue. I don’t encounter that. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/28 "2018-01-11T23:44:55Z")
Right, and neither have the conservatives in this thread. But they’ve read stories on the internet of normal people enraging insanely touchy entitled snowflakes by accidentally saying something wrong, which means it must happen all the time, right? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/29 "2018-01-12T00:11:14Z")
My label-assigning literal mind has a hard enough time coming to grips with calling somebody who is biologically 100% male a female (or vice versa); I’m not even going to try to make it accept that a biologically 100% human is a turnip. Fortunately I live in Idaho, so I probably won’t be expected to. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/30 "2018-01-12T00:48:09Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s been mentioned recently in the webcomic _[Questionable Content](http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3624)_. No explanation as to why Tilly uses they/them. The character in that comic isn’t using they/them because they think they’re multiple people. They’re doing it because they don’t identify with either gender, and English lacks gender-neutral pronouns. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/31 "2018-01-12T00:48:52Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > My label-assigning literal mind has a hard enough time coming to grips with calling somebody who is biologically 100% male a female (or vice versa); I’m not even going to try to make it accept that a biologically 100% human is a turnip. > > Fortunately I live in Idaho, so I probably won’t be expected to. Potatoes, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/32 "2018-01-12T03:36:21Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Right, and neither have the conservatives in this thread. But they’ve read stories on the internet of normal people enraging insanely touchy entitled snowflakes by accidentally saying something wrong, which means it must happen all the time, right? That’s how you keep that kind of behavior from being normalized, by making it clear that it will remain confined to the Autonomous Snowflake Kingdom. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/33 "2018-01-12T06:44:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Being functionally insane is still being insane. I purposefully didn’t use that word, and for a good reason: “insane” is no longer a medical reality. Did you have a \*specific \*mental \*disorder \*you wished to diagnose this person with, Dr Armchair? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383/34 "2018-01-12T18:51:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > That’s how you keep that kind of behavior from being normalized, by making it clear that it will remain confined to the Autonomous Snowflake Kingdom. You just keep clutching your magic rock that keeps tigers away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plural-being/806383.md?page=1)