I was raised to address strangers and those I wish to show social deference to as “Sir” or “Ma’am”. It’s a difficult habit to break, as it is deeply engrained.
What is an equivalent gender neutral honorific that is relatively common in English? If I can’t break the habit I’d rather have a substitute word to use instead of an awkward pause in the middle of addressing someone
I’d just use Google to ask but I’d rather ask the people directly rather than an AI generated answer based off of Reddit threads
ETA: I suppose if Yessir and Yes’m work, Yesn’t could too? Mostly joking… but maybe… 🤔
Avoid honorifics with “there” (e.g. hello, sir - > hello there) or drop. Otherwise use boss, friend, chief or captain depending on vibes.
I use “Captain”. It has been met with 100% success.
Came here to say this, or “cap”
M’theydy
Hat tipping intensifies
Marcie calls Peppermint Patty Sir, so maybe that works. Only half joking.
Yo!
I think boss works decent as a neutral way to respectfully address some body in a position of authority, I have refered to many a manager and or client as “boss” when I dont know know their name
Folks. It’s my go-to.
Found Obama
Go by language rules - It.
I use Mx or Mxtress with my Owner
How exactly are u pronouncing that? Like Mx = “em-ex”?
I kinda do Mix which they don’t seem to mind
Sorry for the non answer, but here’s a little rant:
Honorifics should go away. They unnecessarily create and restate hierarchies that don’t really need to exist.
On the receiving end, it has always felt weird being called “sir”. A smile is more than enough, thank you very much.
If a person who knows me calls me “sir” I ask them to not call me sir. I loathe being called sir lol.
I like to use “dude” or “guy” in a neutral way.
Some people who aren’t men have a negative reaction to being addressed as “dude” or “guy” nowadays. There’s been a lot of writing about it online by women and non-binary folks, and some people in my life IRL have expressed that feeling as well.
“Guy” and “dude” had been all-encompassing gender-neutral terms in my head for ages (I grew up in the 1980s-1990s when we were all dudes) but I’ve been making an effort to switch away from using them that way because I like my speech patterns to be kind by default.
M’dude.
I often say ‘man’ as an affectation regardless of gender, but today I accidentally said “thanks man” to an obvious trans woman at the kitchen store and felt really bad but she pretended not to notice.
That can be the challenge with Chief as well, it’s often said in a masculine context. Boss and Captain don’t have the same challenges (although penal culture can affect when Boss is appropriate to use)
“OI CUNT” 🇦🇺
Scotland approves 🏴
Just invent something. English isn’t even a strictly gendered language. Just don’t expect anyone to want to use a lame word like xir or some other derivative hipster shit you gotta stick the landing. You can just choose to create new words and see if something catches on noone will stop you from trying. People do tend to be masc or fem for a reason and probably don’t want to be treated like something inbetween so keep that in mind.
I was told “dude” counts as gender neutral these days, but people seem to differ in opinion on that one.
I like that in Battlestar Galactica, Sir is the honorific for all military officers. They use madame for the president, but the military calls everyone Sir.
That’s not strictly a scifi thing, it was a prevailing real-world military custom for a long time to address all military superiors as “sir” regardless of gender. These days the thinking varies, and as women have been integrating into the military for many generations now in more and more places women officers may be addressed as “ma’am.”
