Some of you are aware that i have recently made the decision to change my personal pronouns to the perfectly grammatically acceptable gender-neutral singular pronoun set “they/them/their/they’re.” This was a personal choice i made over the weekend, because i feel like it fits my ever-shifting nature a bit better than staying with “male pronouns for the time being.” However, this has created a bit of a conundrum for me…
If you use male or female pronouns, then there is a title of address that people can use when talking to you (“Sir” or “Ma’am”). There isn’t to my knowledge any sort of gender-neutral form of address like that, which means that when i get “Sir’ed” (or possibly even “Ma’am’ed” someday in the future), there isn’t really a more authentic form that can be used. Also, what would take the place of the Mr./Ms./Mrs. tag?
i honestly don’t know the answers to these questions… Do any of my readers know of anything for this?
Coming Out Three Times 
I’ve seen some use of Mixter or Mx. in place of Mr. or Mrs.
There isn’t really a gender neutral address. American English is so full of the gender binary.
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i just found one website that recommends “Ser,” but that feels too Game of Thrones…
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But I like feeling like Game of Thrones.
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Thanks for the information on “Mx.” i need to come up with or find something to replace the “Sir/Ma’am” one, too, because reasons… Hmmmm…
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Go appropriate some other culture? I’ll call you sensai :3
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Not a fan of cultural appropriation, myself… i did find a few interesting ideas here: http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/austheir.html and here: genderqueeries.tumblr.com… Some of my favorites follow…
“Repurpose an honorific used under different circumstances: your honor, your grace, your worship, goody, comrade, mate.” – i shall now be referred to as “your majesty.” That is all. (Not really… feels kinda silly…)
“Portmanteau sir and ma’am: s’am, sim, mir, mar.” -i actually kind of like “mir.”
“Tiz; neutral, short for ‘citizen.'” -Ehhhh… not so sure about this one…
“Enby; from the sound of NB, non-binary.” -It’s a bit of a mouthful, but i kind of like it…
i don’t know… Thoughts?
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I’m pretty sure either Germany or The Netherlands or some other forward thinking country in Europe added gender neutral pronouns to the language. I think this is it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/swedish-gender-neutral-pronoun-hen-national-encyclopedia_n_3063293.html
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Swedish is by no means the only language with gender-neutral pronouns. Examples in English include the invented “zhe” and “thon,” and the Middle English “ou,” however these pronouns are uncommon in mainstream speech.
In October 2012, the British town of Brighton proposed abolishing titles like “Miss,” “Mrs” and “Mr,” replacing them with the gender-neutral “Mx” — the full form of which is “Mixter.”
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Sorry if this was off base.
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Thank you for sharing this. It’s exactly the sort of information I was looking for. 🙂
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