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… 🤔
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.
Yeah, in Scandinavia you just say “you” or use a person’s name when referring to somebody else. Or their job title if it fits the context. You can really feel that you’re not “below” anybody, we all deserve the same level of respect and the language reflects that. Additionally, you don’t need to guess anybody’s gender if you’re not sure, avoids uncomfortable situations.
If a person who knows me calls me “sir” I ask them to not call me sir. I loathe being called sir lol.