A Noun as a Personal Pronoun?
The use of tributary as a ‘personal pronoun’ for me is two-fold: the “we” is because I want to shift to more inclusive language, away from “I, me,mine.” (It’s hard and we struggle, because it’s not my aim to confuse people!) I/we want to live in a we/us/ours oriented culture! The “we” allows me to include and embrace all the facets of myself as well – many characters call my mind(s) home!!! (The yogic philosophy I studied and integrated asserted we all have three minds — That makes sense to me: why people have at times looked at me like I have three heads! On occasion, all three of my minds happen to show themselves simultaneously!)
(I could wax on that further, but I’ll leave it there for now.).
At first, I worried using we/us/ours as my pronouns would possibly be misinterpreted, so I felt reluctant to try it out. Then a dear friend shared with me the Genderwheel. Are you familiar with it? In one book that I read some people (usually children) wanted to add a pronoun that shows their connection to nature. I use ‘tree’ sometimes as well. When ‘tributary’ showed up for me, it made sense because I often am ‘out of the mainstream,’ AND I recognize I’m still heading to the same world ocean as the rest of our human family. I meander a bit, and prefer a slower pace. Combining these different pronouns more accurately expresses who I am (she-I do resonate with my female gender, we-I acknowledge my multi-faceted nature, as well as that of others, and tree or tributary: I’m connected to our earth home.).
Here’s where I was introduced to nature-pronouns (through a children’s book) http://www.genderwheel.com/
And here’s another website I recently learned about:
Thanks for your curiosity and caring. May we all have opportunities to play with language, and find ways to better express ourselves.
