Life

Angry Birds posts adorably simple explainer on respecting pronouns

HILVERSUM, NETHERLANDS - FEBRUARY 23, 2014: Angry Birds is a video game by Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment first released for iOS in 2009. It sold over 2 billion copies across all platforms
Photo: Shutterstock

LGBTQ+ gamers were delighted after the popular videogame Angry Birds posted a sweet and simple explanation of pronouns to its social media pages.

“Personal pronouns are just nouns you can use to refer to people instead of their names!” said a post from the game’s official Facebook page. “Lots of languages have gendered pronouns, so sometimes it’s worth specifying what pronouns work for you!”

The post added that there are no gendered pronouns in Finnish (the game was created by a Finnish developer).

“If you’re not sure what pronouns to use for someone, you can always ask!” the post continued, “And if you slip up and use the wrong ones, it’s not the end of the world. Just apologize, correct yourself, and continue with your great conversation.”

The post also included a photo of three characters from the game, as well as their pronouns. It identified Stella as using she/her, Red bird as using he/him, and a new character, Jo, as using they/them.

Jo was introduced earlier this month, possibly in honor of Pride Month. A tweet from the account of Red the Angry Bird described Jo as “passionate about dancing and the performing arts” and someone who uses “their skills and talent to make the world a kinder place.”

Red’s account also posted an abbreviated version of the pronoun explainer on Twitter, boiling it down to: “pronouns, they’re not that hard! What are urs?”

While there were the inevitable hateful responses, many LGBTQ+ people were overjoyed to see the game declare its allyship. Many responded excitedly sharing their own pronouns.

“My pronouns are they/them! Thanks for asking Angry Birds!” wrote one person on Facebook.

“I love this!!!! 🥰🥰🥰,” wrote another. “I go by she/her and it’s crazy the number of people who use masculine pronouns for me after I tell them my pronouns. It’s almost like the haters don’t actually care about being ‘right.”’

Another person thanked the brand “for fostering respect.”

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