tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196620611811333771.post3813352537371978990..comments2024-02-06T00:42:21.008-08:00Comments on Life Beyond Bivalence: Gaps in Gender-Neutral Language - and my sib epiphanyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14949816137804262964noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8196620611811333771.post-53888690055952425312015-07-28T06:49:04.651-07:002015-07-28T06:49:04.651-07:00I'm male, but came across your post because I ...I'm male, but came across your post because I was trying to discover the appropriate gender-neutral equivalent to "sir/ma'am." Not finding one, I propose "per," for "person." I understand that it has been proposed as a gender-neutral pronoun, but I think it sounds good as an honorific. I think Mx. is good as a title; it's consistent with the existing ones, and the X sort of symbolizes a break with traditional gender concepts.<br /><br />I see nothing wrong with "nepling," but if it strikes you as too joke-y, perhaps "nieph" or "nipote." The former is an amalgamation of "niece" and "nephew," while the latter is the Italian word that actually means both niece and nephew. (In Italian, it ends with a long vowel and has three syllables; I'd propose making it a silent e and pronouncing it with two syllables.) And to replace "aunt" or "uncle," I rather like "auncle" (The "t" seems too difficult to pronounce, like a syllable unto itself.). But if you think it should be more different from the other words, perhaps "oncula," derived from the French "oncle" (uncle), or "avuncle," derived from the English word "avuncular," meaning "of, relating to, or characteristic of an uncle." Or maybe just "ave," pronounced with two syllables as in "ave Maria."DavidK93https://www.blogger.com/profile/14867297569423333548noreply@blogger.com