Dear KE:
I don't know who you are, and you obviously don't know me. I'm pretty sure I've never written about abortion on this blog, and I don't plan on writing about it now. It's an extremely volatile topic, and I would much rather write about the lovely trip I just took to Florida.
However, abortion debate aside, I stand by my use of the word "fetus". Fetus is the scientifically accurate term for any mammal, human or otherwise, during its developmental stages before birth. Actually, I deliberated over the wording of that post for a while, and ultimately settled on the word fetus, even though at Christmas, Auggie was technically still in the embryonic stage. But, by the time of posting, he or she was already into the fetal stage, so I took the liberty of using that word rather than "embryo", simply because I thought it sounded better and made for a punchier punch line.
So, if you want to stop reading my blog because of ridiculous assumptions that you have made about my politics and morality based on my refusal to redefine the English language to suit political ends, so be it. That's one less judgmental and spiteful reader for me to worry about upsetting.
Sincerely,
Jule Ann.
6 comments:
I agree, Fetus is funnier.
- Justin
Wow. I just read the anonymous comment which sparked this open-letter. And yes, I realize this outs me as a not-so-regular reader. The flesh is willing but the schedule is week (I should erase that wretched pun, but I'll leave it there as my penance for being a blog slacker).
Anyway, I think that KE's inability to see the linguistic flexibility of terms is kinda sad. S/he can't see "fetus" as being anything short of ideological invective or "geek" as anything other than the old pejorative. I think terms like "geek" and "nerd" have been sufficiently commandeered by this point, no?
As someone who is pretty militant in his anti-abortion stance, I have no problem using the established scientific terms. We do it for everything else. Would KE object to me calling myself a homo sapien? Or a mammal?
Maybe we should switch to Narnian phrases like "Son of Adam" and "Daughter of Eve" instead of "man" or "woman"... lest we forget our true origin! KE's response seems so disproportionate. Did s/he not realize that you were trying to be funny?
much better then prenatal incubating life form or PNILF or it or that wiggly alien thing...
what still mystifys me about the practice of anonymous posting is that someone will either a make random comments about someone they don't know and therefore have no context to make said remarks, or do know the person, and are simply too cowardly to take responsibility for their nonsensical mutterings,
If you are going to make an ass out of your self at least take the opportunity to get yourself some fashionable donkey ears.
It makes me sad that my initials were used to such a dastardly end. It makes me happy to use the word "dastardly."
Hoorah!
As a member of said scientific community it is refreshing to see terms used appropriately, even if to make a joke. And, yes, I appreciated the joke on both levels. So, go Jule-Ann for thinking about it and using the words! And go geeks!
KE probably wouldn't have enjoyed my pregnancy language. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I referred to my wonderful babies as parasites. They took my energy, my memory and in some cases my sanity ;)
Love,
Susie1998
**For some reason google wouldn't let me log in ;)**
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