Bigenders: a rant.

Last week's rant included the following words:


agender, bi-gender, cisgender, demigender, intergender, genderqueer, transgender and thirdgender 

and as I typed it I wondered why there was a hyphen in bi-gender, and not in the others? 

The whole naming-of-sexualities thing has got horribly complicated. Apparently trans-gender, with a hyphen, is offensive to some transgender people. Now, I don't want to offend anyone - well, not because of their (I daren't use his or her, here) sexuality, anyway - but I don't really understand why the hyphen should matter.

Bi-gender...

...and then I realised.

Well, it made me laugh.

Word To Use Today: bi-gender. Or, if you like, Big Ender. Bi-gender describes someone who describes themselves as bi-gender. Big enders (technically known as big endians in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels but often known as big enders) were inhabitants of the islands of Lilliput and Blefuscu who insisted on opening their boiled eggs at the large end. They remained the established authority (despite an assassination and a coup) on Lilliput, but in Blefuscu the little endian heresy took hold. 

The argument between the two sides was the cause of the war between the countries during Gulliver's visit.