Let’s say there’s someone I want to call Mr/Ms/Mrs [Name], but I don’t know their gender, is there a title I can use that doesn’t assume their gender?
Do you have any suggestions on sir/ma’am? I’m from the south, and genuinely don’t know how to stop saying sir/ma’am. I always try to go with whatever the person is presenting, and I have tried not to say it at all. But that southernism is deeply ingrained. Like at a drive through or something, where you only have a voice to go off of it’s especially bad. I do try to avoid it, but I wish there were a gender neutral version, because language just feels rude without it to someone who grew up with that instilled in them. All adult people must be addressed as ma’am or sir, regardless of age in any kind of setting that isn’t close friends. If I forego it, I feel rude as fuck, and most of the time whoever you’re talking to also acts offended. But the last thing I want to do is misgender someone, especially with words like sir/ma’am, that are such… Strict terms. Halp?
I like “Hello GentlePerson!” It’s oddly formal, so no one can say you aren’t being polite, and it’s gender neutral.
I’m wicked sorry, I don’t have a good answer. You could try Mx and see how it feels. I’ve dropped sir/ma’am for folks that I know, or that appear my age or younger. I still use it for older folks I don’t know out in the wild.
I, personally, never take offense at being misgendered in a Southern accent if I’m called “ma’am”. I grew up in the South and to me it just feels like someone’s trying their best to be polite and I take it as intended. Sometimes I also just misparse it as “man”, which feels a bit informal, but whatevs. Miss still feels creepy, but I get that less now that I’ve hit 30.
If you’re working at a drive through where there’s a customer/service worker dynamic, I’d 1. go with ma’am or sir 2. accept it if someone corrects you, and 3. recognize you’re more likely to be yelled at by someone for using a ‘new-fangled honorific’ than for misgendering someone.
Edit: Oh! I have replaced “Thank you sir/ma’am” with “Thank you, kindly” and that seems to work for me.
I like thank you kindly! Haha
And no, I don’t work at a drive through, I just use them occasionally. Lol. And yeah, miss has always felt weird to me. I know in other parts of the country ma’am has an age connotation, so maybe miss is more appropriate there? But to me, it always felt sort of… Disparaging. Like you’re specifically saying “you there, child-like-female-being!” Lol. Just doesn’t sit right.
And I’d so much rather be yelled at for using new fangled honorifics. Haha. If I accidentally misgender someone, I know I’ve potentially ruined a day, or at the very least added to a certain level of frustration. If I get yelled at for some new fangled honorific then what I’ve done is outted a jerk, and pissed them off, and pissing off jerks makes me happy. Haha.
