Matt Yglesias Is Out Of His Depth

Being mad that the meaning of words changes over time is not really a great basis for a political ideology.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 24, 2022

Yeah, it gets worse from there:

In the vast majority of cases, the people with XX chromosomes are the people with uteruses and vice versa.

But that's not uniformly the case. But the people most insistent on these definitions also want to insist on a hard binary.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 24, 2022

A) this is not a "philosophy of language" issue. Not even close. B) it's not even a "dictionary definition" issue. And, as even the Governor of Utah recently noted, it really has bugger all to do with sports: collegiate, public school, or otherwise.

But however you come down on the policy, a chromosome-based definition is as ahistorical as anything else you could possibly pick since the concepts and terminology of sex and gender — including gender-segregated sports — clearly predate that science.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 24, 2022

Unlike Mr. Yglesias, I'm not willing to give this "argument" any credibility at all. I think, actually, the solution is to dissolve the distinction between "men's sports" and "women's sports." It's a pretty silly dichotomy.  You may cry "But football!"  Well, I'm 6' and well over 200 lbs., but I was never big enough to be a football player (or athletic enough, either).  I know some girls who are.  Size is an issue in all sports; and some of us bow out because of it, and some of us don't.  Jockeys are usually very small, very light people.  Takes all kinds; let it take all kinds.

As I said at the beginning of this thread it is natural and inevitable is for language to change over time. Building your politics around being mad about that is juvenile. https://t.co/RSLlaU2mN0

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 24, 2022

This isn't about "language changing over time," like the transition of "awful" from "Full of awe" (where it began) to its current common meaning. And the "argument" Yglesias quotes in that last tweet is too stupid to respond to. It's not even an argument, it's just gabble. But yeah, being mad about words is juvenile.  Arguing with juvenile people, however, is not necessarily wise and mature.