I was confused at first. I asked about the pronunciation of the word; it was also explained to me that it included trans and gender non-confirming people. My elder, who's also Guarani, took the time to explain it this to me.
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For those of us who don't speak Spanish: our language is gendered. I won't get into why—but it's a solid feature that can be difficult to explain to English-only speakers.
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For example, in English, a group of ten friends are called "friends." In Spanish, a group of 10 friends who are women is called "amigas." A group of 10 friends who are men is called "amigos."
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But, because of the gendered and ultimately machista nature of Spanish, a group of friends, 9 of whom are women and 1 of whom is a man, is called "amigos." My gender is disappeared. It's like a dirty war... for words.pic.twitter.com/SU2kyHFcMK
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What's more: there hasn't been a word for a collective group of 10 gender nonconforming friends in Spanish. Amigxs, it was explained to me, was a way to include everyone who's in your group of friends.
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Once I understood that, I started hearing and seeing "amigxs" that describe people or groups of people ending in -x more often. It was everywhere. In Spanish. In Latin America. More than 10 years ago.
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When I started seeing and hearing the word Latinx in the U.S., it felt familiar. I was curious at the way the -x had crossed a linguistic border and traveled its way north.
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I work in media, and not all publications accept Latinx. I strive to use it when I can/am allowed to do so. Outside of publications, I sometimes fail to use it in my personal life. When I do, I revert to Latino.
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I've internalized Latino, even though I consciously know it erases me. Language is really deep in that way.
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Replying to @aurabogado
Not to hijack the conversation, but can I add that I’ve always felt that way about the use of “man” to describe humanity. It erases me. Thank you for sharing!
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You’re not hijacking! What you’re saying makes sense and is along the same lines of what I’m sharing.
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Replying to @aurabogado
Good! I was hoping you would take it that way. :) Definitely seems like the same feeling I’ve had my whole life with man or mankind. And your thread was really great—very helpful!
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