Marcie calls Peppermint Patty Sir, so maybe that works. Only half joking.
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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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
I use Mx or Mxtress with my Owner
How exactly are u pronouncing that? Like Mx = "em-ex"?
M'theydy
Folks. It's my go-to.
I like to use βdudeβ or βguyβ in a neutral way.
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.
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.
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 βsirβ I ask them to not call me sir. I loathe being called sir lol.
Personally, I'm in favour of "mamsir", which is the obvious compounding of "ma'am" and "sir". The Internet tells me it's used in the Philippines, but I could have sworn I first heard of it being used in India π€·ββοΈ
"OI CUNT" π¦πΊ
Scotland approves π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ
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.
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?
You're amazing and so are your questions.
I'm looking for a third option for sir/ma'am, and a substitute for Chief that's a bit more formal.
The culture I'm in now is not as formal, this isn't so much finding something to work within the culture of this area as it is to marry my culture to the one I find myself in. I have very little to connect me to my people here and so the traditions I choose to keep are more important as a result. I like saying sir/ma'am. It's the verbal equivalent of holding the door open for someone. But for some people being addressed that way is invalidating, and I want to meet people where they are, not force them to come to me.
I like Magister as a third option for Mr/Mrs., and Professor as a more formal Chief. But sir/ma'am has me stumped
I truly admire your intent in this quest of yours. Admirable.
I would recommend asking the person what they prefer, for people you know ahead of time are non-binary. For people you don't know ahead of time, choose whichever you think is most likely, apologize if you get it wrong, and ask them afterwards what they prefer.
Unless it is adopted widely by society, any third option will likely be met with confusion, and will still likely offend some people.
For a suggestion of a third option, however, might I offer "boss"? Slightly more formal than chief (in my experience), gender neutral, and allows you to make it as playful or respectful as the situation needs.
Just be aware that there are some slavery/prison connotations to boss in the US and some might be offended.
Well if you want to keep a similar motif, Cap'n is vaguely formal, vaguely military esque, and it's gender neutral. Could be seafaring or land based.
You probably won't find anything with the same level of formality as sir/ma'am, so you're going to have to compromise a little bit on that front, but I think people will like the attempt regardless!
Not OP but I think that's a darn good suggestion.
As a foreigner whose native tongue has gendered nouns and adjectives: we default to sir to sir-presenting people, ma'am to ma'am presenting, and "sir? ma'am? " when unsure and clarification is needed.
I do not understand why you'd want to preemptively force gender someone by choosing a neutral/or newspeak/ form of address - to me it seems much much much worse than defaulting to asking for preference ("sir? ma'am?" option is the best - it declares you've noticed the interlocutor is a nb and passes the ball to them).
If you're looking for 1 word that would always work, I recommend embracing your inner old British Lady and calling everyone pet (petal), dear or love. :-)
Clearly we need to start adopting Japanese honorifics that way we can just call people -san.
Mage
I am legit going to use Magister as a replacement option for Mr/Mrs. It's formal, archaic, and gender neutral. That's the trifecta right there
...crap, I'm cis male and I wanna be addressed as "mage"...
You can just do that ya know. Just be a wizard. Tell people to address you as such. Don't even have to be trans you can change your name and everything
I work with magical lights that spring forrh from runes written in gold powered by ancient ichor and magic rocks.
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