I’m half Russian American on my father’s side, a quarter Israeli and some Egyptian on my mom’s side

  • GB19@lemm.eeOP
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    3 days ago

    I only know some Arabic, Russian, and English, so I’m usually comfortable with just Russian and English. As someone who used to be transfem, I had to get used to changing the way I said things in Russian and Arabic now that I’m a man.

    • GB19@lemm.eeOP
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      3 days ago

      For example, if I was an alcoholic as a woman, in Russian I’d be алкоголичка, but as a man, I’d be алкоголик. If I’m tired now, I’d be устал, but as a woman, I’d have been устала.

      In Arabic, if you want to ask a woman her name formally, you ask “ ما اسمك؟” (ma ismuki), but you say ma ismuka to a man.

      • 200ok@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Neat! The only English word I can think of like that is “his blond” and “her blonde” pubes

        • darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 days ago

          Well, even though English grammar has dropped gender from pretty much everything save pronouns these days, there are still quite a lot of gendered nouns from times past left in the language, compare for example “I’m a father” vs. “I’m a mother” (vs. “I’m a parent”), or “I’m an actor” vs. “I’m an actress”. There are also some adjectives left that aren’t strictly gendered per se, but still tend to have gendered usage, compare for example “I’m handsome” vs. “I’m pretty”.