SirSamuelMar 23

What is a gender neutral honorific for non-binary folk?

https://lemmy.world/post/44637079

What is a gender neutral honorific for non-binary folk? - Lemmy.World

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

Show threadagent_nycto6d ago

Ok so reading the comments, from Appalachia, and I didn’t see it about anyone specific.

So the reason why nothing seems correct is because nothing new will have the same level of cultural history. If you’re trying to show social deference to people things like “friend” or “pal” won’t work, and “chief” sounds too informal.

You can still use “sir” and “ma’am” under most circumstances, so the question is more about your circumstances.

Are you trying to find something that replaces those honorifics all together, or do you want a backup third option in case someone says they are non binary?

Are you still in the same culture, or have you moved to a culture that doesn’t emphasize honorifics like you were raised with?

Show threadLettyWhiterock
Clearly we need to start adopting Japanese honorifics that way we can just call people -san.
Mar 24 at 10:12pmWeb
Show threadagent_nycto5d ago
There’s like, 20 or more honorifics in Japanese. I think that -sama is more culturally equivalent for the Appalachian sir/ma’am, but those honorifics, iirc, usually have to go with a name or a job or something, while the Appalachian sir/ma’am can be used with strangers.