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… 🤔
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)