the archives of f/k/a . . .

Here’s the list I compiled, trying to decide which combination of consonant plus long-e sound would make a good choice for a non-gender-specific (gender-neutral or epicene) pronoun, in the subjective case:

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  be — too confusing, given the verb, and the insect


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  ce — no one will know how to pronounce it (’key”?, “see”?, “chee”?)


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  de — maybe; could be confused with Delaware, or Brooklynese for ”the” 


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  fe — reminiscent of “fee-fie-foe-fum”; the person would be a    contingent ”fee”; symbol for Iron; Spanish for faith, trust;


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  ge — confusing pronunciation (”gee”? or “jee”?); it’s the Greek-based prefix for earth; and the symbol for the chemical element germanium


• 
  
  je — it’s not found in any major European language (which is a plus), but it sounds weird (especially its possessive and objective forms)


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  ke – lots of homonyms


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  le — means you/yourself (sing., polite)  in Spanish;


• 
  
  me — already taken


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  ne –  confused with Nebraska, northeast, or New England, symbol for neon; variant of nee (born)


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  pe — very unfortunate slang homonym; means “printer’s error”; Phys. Ed.; Pro. Engineer


• 
  
  qe — who? why? what?


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  re — too many homonyms, and means “the thing” 


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  se — confuse with “see”; selenium; southeast;


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  te –  Spanish for you (obj. singular, familiar); confuse with “tea”, “tee”


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  ve — confuse with letter “v”


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  we — already taken


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  xe — pronunciation problem (not “ex-ee”, please!); symbol for xenium


• 
  
  ye – archaic for “you”


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  ze — maybe, but perhaps sounds too French; sounds like letter “z”