Amazon and DRM changes

[rantanplan]

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...y/english/they
Check B1

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they
Check examples in 3.

[lkmiller]

Singular they has been back in common usage for at least a decade now.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can't use they. To me, that's a multiple.

You could, but you won't. That's very different.

In any case, if someone has a female name or if you could easily ascertain gender from their profile, there's no excuse for misgendering.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can't use they. To me, that's a multiple. If you don't know someone's gender, what's good to use that's singular? They is not generic. It's specific.

It was strange for me too years ago, but there's no other good option in a language with gendered pronouns. Using the male pronoun as the default is obviously no longer acceptable.

We don't have these issues in Estonian with its genderless pronouns, but on the other hand some pivotal phrases in Indo-European books aren't really translatable. On yet a third hand I first read LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness in an excellent Estonian translation and of course there were no gendered pronouns for its androgynous characters, so it felt much more natural than the English original.

[slm]

Just to clarify my earlier comments: they weren't an objection to making they available as a plural--new words and new usages occur all the time and, while it may be difficult for an old curmudgeon to get used to them, they happen. I learned to use "Ms" and I can learn to you singular "they."

I was objecting to the suggestion that this was not change in the language.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by slm

Just to clarify my earlier comments: they weren't an objection to making they available as a plural--new words and new usages occur all the time and, while it may be difficult for an old curmudgeon to get used to them, they happen. I learned to use "Ms" and I can learn to you singular "they."

I was objecting to the suggestion that this was not change in the language.

But, as has been pointed out, it is not a change in the language, at least not a recent change. You are projecting your experience onto total usage. I know from experience it was common at least back to the 1960's.

You moved the goalposts when you invoked "standard". That was not the context.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

Amazon needs to change their DRM again because we've really, really slid off topic.

[Martinoptic]

Don't tempt fate....

I have just discovered they did change it in the latest K4W.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Amazon needs to change their DRM again because we've really, really slid off topic.

NO! Never ever say that.

[lkmiller]

Satsuoni is on it. Although there are reports of it working for one person and not for another. But they're looking into it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Satsuoni is on it. Although there are reports of it working for one person and not for another. But they're looking into it.

It works as long as you don't delete your data directory. I leave it alone. So using the older version that's in the data directory works to remove the DRM. The new version of Kindle does not yet have an updated DeDRM.

[Sats]

(takes a deep breath) A rant, first... Apologies...
...
I admit, I dislike use of singular "they". I have seen purported uses of it in older literature, but I have always interpreted it as ambiguity in count, rather than gender, when one does not know how many people one refers to. Then again, I learned English much like LLM does, by ingesting literature and Internet until it started to make sense from context, so what do I know?
Likewise, I see somewhat of an uptick of such usage over the last decade or so in fiction that I read, and it really does not add to clarity. Often I am left wondering if "they" refers to a person, current group or general organization person belongs to, or just rumor. Like "They mentioned there is an inn around here"... ???
Personally, I would have preferred a new pronoun or usage of "that one", in the same vein this one refers to 'self in third person at times. But I guess enough people prefer "they", so into vernacular it goes.
As such, and I apologize again, but being addressed as "they" makes this one mildly uncomfortable as it makes us think of ourselves in plural. "He", "it" or "that" are, in general, preferable. That said, these days "they" is not incorrect.

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

@slm: So do you always say "she or he" repeatedly in conversation until you know the referenced person's sex or gender for sure?

Whenever I am paying attention to what words I am using, I use names as much as possible, pronouns when I know person well enough and try to avoid talking about people I do not know, because why refer to them at all (in a conversation that does not include them)? There are exceptions, of course, and I don't always pay attention...

But maybe move pronoun discussion into "general discussions"?
...
With that out of the way...
This should work? But I do feel that it is less stable than before.

[cgsmom]

Originally Posted by Ma'am-I-Am

Amazon needs to change their DRM again because we've really, really slid off topic.

I was just thinking the same thing. As a matter of fact, I got so lost in this discussion I am wondering if Amazon DRM is breakable at the present. I know that pulling books off of my PW4 or Oasis 3 doesn't work.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

As a matter of fact, I got so lost in this discussion I am wondering if Amazon DRM is breakable at the present.

Yes, using the Windows Store Kindle app.

[christianbethel]

Hey guys, newbie here. Has anyone been able to successfully remove DRM from their Kindle books via Epubor or Calibre? Every time I download my books from the Kindle app it just gives me a random AZW file, and when I add that file to Calibre it gives me a kfx-zip file. What's going on? Any help would be appreciated.