I shouldn't wade into this discourse, but LANGUAGE CHANGES and old people always hate what kids are doing. This is fine, especially if the author intends it to be euphemistic. Language policing always ends in systematic discrimination against marginalized people. We don't want to go down this road!
If you write ‘unalive’ in prose or character dialogue, in your NOVEL - which I have seen TWICE NOW - I will immediately wince and full body cringe. The TikTokification of words has to stop. Your character almost DIED or was KILLED in your novel. They were not almost ‘unalived’.
Aug 7, 2025 01:22
