Yes, exactly! I think this is something that's always bothered me but I've never put it into words.
I think maybe there's an aspect of 'otherness' going on as. So, e.g., if you have characteristic X, which is a characteristic that cannot be held mutually with characteristic Y, then an opposition between X and Y is bound to be perceived even if it's not significant. There may be an assumption by X people, for instance, that when you refer to someone they're likely also to be an X person, and if they're not then you'd specifiy that. Does that make sense? I don't think I'm making much sense today, so now I'm going to crash out and play a computer game to give my head a break :)
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Date: 2008-09-24 02:58 pm (UTC)I think maybe there's an aspect of 'otherness' going on as. So, e.g., if you have characteristic X, which is a characteristic that cannot be held mutually with characteristic Y, then an opposition between X and Y is bound to be perceived even if it's not significant. There may be an assumption by X people, for instance, that when you refer to someone they're likely also to be an X person, and if they're not then you'd specifiy that. Does that make sense? I don't think I'm making much sense today, so now I'm going to crash out and play a computer game to give my head a break :)