Bǣddel Bygones: An article on origins, usage and proper contextual analysis of the term
Bǣddel Bygones: An article on origins, usage and proper contextual analysis of the term Many people, by now, have written on bǣddel as a slur and have gone over how it may relate to trans women and various reclamation groups that arose in the late twenty-teens. But nobody, so far, seems to have given any credence at all for the context of its use or its origin and continued usage in British English today. Aside from apparently being the root of the word bad, it is a pejorative in Old English for gender nonconforming or effeminate cis men, intersex people and people who we would now refer to as trans women. But this is where many non-linguists go off the rails. Old English is super old. Like, older than the Middle Ages (where people spoke Middle English). Old English is largely incomprehensible to modern English speakers and I’m willing to bet that most people involved in bǣddel debates are not able to read Old English. There’s also the issue of etymology, since again, most people ...