Let's come up with some gender neutral terms

[UnlockingJack]

I read a really wonderful story the other day with a genderqueer character. That character's boyfriend's father referred to them as "my son's person", not in an ownership kind of sense, but instead of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". I kind of like that. I can see where it might have ownership undertones, but I don't really see it that way, and I like the idea of my partner referring to me as "his person". It's cute. (as it is, since we're married, I'm trying to get him used to calling me his partner rather than his wife. I hate the connotations of "wife" anyway.)

[Shantel]

I read a really wonderful story the other day with a genderqueer character. That character's boyfriend's father referred to them as "my son's person", not in an ownership kind of sense, but instead of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend". I kind of like that. I can see where it might have ownership undertones, but I don't really see it that way, and I like the idea of my partner referring to me as "his person". It's cute. (as it is, since we're married, I'm trying to get him used to calling me his partner rather than his wife. I hate the connotations of "wife" anyway.)

I get that and usually refer to my S.O. as my spouse. There's something about the word wife that is synonymous with someone regarded as lesser which is the case in some cultures. Partners puts us on an equal footing and makes more sense to me.

[RainbowGuacamole]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned or not (forgive me if it was), but "nibling" is the gender neutral way to refer to a nephew/niece. I think this may be the cutest word ever!

[Padma]

Also not sure if this has come up before, but I know an ungendered couple who refer to each other as their "enfriend". As in N for neutral.

[MacG]

"Nibling" is the best thing ever!

[Natkat]

In my languarge we don't use "boyfriend or girlfriend" as speaking of someone we are together with,
we say "kæreste" which dirrectly means, the thing/person I love the most/the thing/person I hold most dead"

while writting english I still like to keep the word gender neutral, so I usunally exchange the word with "my dear" "my lover" "his beloved" "his partner" and such words. we also have a word which is called "sammenboer" meaning "person who live together/ the person I live with"
it is not nessesarry someone they are married or in a relationship with it can also be friends or people you share the house with "sammenlever" is pretty
much the same word but it refern more to someone you are in relation ship.
I think in short the words could be translated as a mix of house partner or companions.

 

[Kendall]

I don't know Latin however I was noticing these pronouns. Might be useful for something.


(which to use depends on nominative (subject of verb), accusative (direct object of transitive verb)(something being done to it), genitive (possessive or composition) (modifying a noun)(english indicate by "'s" or "of"), dative (indirect object) (something being given to)(english indicate by "to", but not movement), ablative (indicating motion away from something, preposition)(english indicate by "from")

to go with the personal pronouns of
ego - I - singular 1st person subject
me - me - singualr 1st person direct object
mihi - to me - singular 1st person indirect object
mei - of me - singular 1st person possessive
me - from me - singular 1st person preposition phrase

id - it (this neuter thing; used in a demonstrative sense)

I used on the first word which is the nominative or subject form, which most of the time is unique to the neutral gender. The second is most of the time unique to the neutral gender, the direct object form
Latin          -           English
meusum  - my - singular neuter - possessive 1st person (ownership)
tuusum - your - singualr neuter - possessive 2nd person (ownership)
suus, sua, sum - [his/hers, its, their] - 3rd person pronouns
se, sui, sibi - [himself, herself, itself] - reflexive pronouns (a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers (its antecedent) within the same clause.)
hoc, huius, huic, hec, horum - neuter: this - demonstrative (represents noun)
illud, illius, illi, illo, illa - neuter: that -demonstrative (represents noun)
id, eius, ei, eo -   neuter: that - demonstrative (represents noun)
quod, quius, que, quorum, quibus - neuter: who, which, that - Relative pronoun (modifies word, clause, or idea)
quid                - neuter: who? what?    - Interrogative pronoun (ask questions)
ipsum     -    neuter: itself  -  intensive (adding emphasis)

I like "id" instead of it. Ever since Freud used for the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth

found this here http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Latin/Lesson_6-Pronouns

[aggressivelyconfused]

Love this thread, there's so many good words here.

I've come across "pibling" for aunt/uncle because one would be a child's parent's sibling, which is just as adorable as nibling I think!
And datemate or sweetie for boyfriend/girlfriend.

[Charr Lee]

The non-binary version of aunt and uncle is auncle and for grandpa and grandma, grandwa.
for relationships there are: bothfriend, enbyfriend, boifriend, grrlfriend, feyfriend, perfriend, and others.

[cal]

another one for boyfriend/girlfriend is datefriend or enbyfriend

[Willowicious]

I just call everybody xerm, regardless of identity ^_^

[Swayallday]

U in Dutch is a polite form to adress anyone
Vous in French has the same connotation.

[Allison Wunderland]

Yeah, as a matter of fact, this IS my field, "linguistics."

Pronouns are part of a language "fixed" vocabulary. These are references that are not very subject to change: I, you, he, she, it.

In English, we dropped the informal, singular "thou" and replaced it with "you."

Similarly, we often use "we" in an editorial sense, instead of the singular "I" . . . We just demonstrated this usage here.

And so, what do we do when we need to designate third person, non gender specific? Current usage in Modern English, being accepted in formal publication is "they" and "one" -- they're, one's . . .

Such usage is unaffected, doesn't need to be "invented" or otherwise introduced.

[superlockedwhovian]

and then there's always "bruh" or "bro" for brother/sister

[Allison Wunderland]

Every day . . .

Currently in the court room, formal address by counsel -- "Mr." . . . and day to day in businesses, "Sir" . . .

"Dr." and "Professor" are both neutral, and accurate, but they seem unnecessarily formal and pretentious. Court will not address me by my first name, regardless.  And yes, as a matter of fact I am wearing a tie and a jacket.

[Koda9]

another one for boyfriend/girlfriend is datefriend or enbyfriend

I've heard of datemate.

[Koda9]

U in Dutch is a polite form to adress anyone
Vous in French has the same connotation.

I take french!

'Vous' is plural you, and both 'tu' (singular, pronounced two/to/too) and 'vous' (plural, pronounced voo, rhymes with zoo, too) are gender-neutral.

I personally use the pronouns zhe-zheir-zhem (zee-zheir[rhymes with their]-zhem[rhymes with them and gem])to refer to myself, mostly because websters uses 'zh' for the french 'j', so the first-person singular reminds me of je.

I might have to start using 'vous' as my title.

"Here is your change, Vu." Vu.Koda- I like it.

[Hunchdebunch]

I've had this kind of discussion with my friends, and have mentioned words like 'datemate' or 'enbyfriend' for boyfriend/girlfriend, and we also discussed aunt/uncle, which we found a difficult one. We came up with 'Auntle' which I think sounds alright, but I'm not sure whether I'd use it or not. I discussed using 'sibling' with my sister, and 'child' with my parents (although, being an adult myself, being called their child seems a bit odd). There's also the matter of bride/groom. I came up with 'Broom' as a joke, but will probably genuinely refer to myself as that if ever get married. I was considering an alternative to sir/ma'am recently too, and came up with 'sir'am' which I quite like. Gendered language is a pain haha

[Nacht]

I think about this a lot. The pronouns I go by that feel right are 'they/them/their'. I've met with resistance to this because many people don't see it as grammatically correct (even though it is and we often use singular they without even realizing it).

I prefer for my boyfriend to refer to me as his partner after I heard him refer to me as his girlfriend to someone. I like the prefix of Mx., I hope that I will see it's use (or a different gender neutral prefix that isn't Dr.) in my lifetime.
I'm not really sure what I'll ask my parents to refer to me as when I eventually come out to them. Asking them to refer to me as their child feels weird because of my age. I suppose that I could just ask for them to refer to me by my name, but even then it feels weird.

[Lizard]

Yeah, as a matter of fact, this IS my field, "linguistics."

Pronouns are part of a language "fixed" vocabulary. These are references that are not very subject to change: I, you, he, she, it.

In English, we dropped the informal, singular "thou" and replaced it with "you."

Similarly, we often use "we" in an editorial sense, instead of the singular "I" . . . We just demonstrated this usage here.

And so, what do we do when we need to designate third person, non gender specific? Current usage in Modern English, being accepted in formal publication is "they" and "one" -- they're, one's . . .

Such usage is unaffected, doesn't need to be "invented" or otherwise introduced.

I admit to skimming this topic, I have limited time for 6 pages of posts, but I find it fascinating. I took some Linguistics back in the day, and there does have to be some structure and reasoning for anything new to "stick." However, we're also dealing with a changing social climate that's pushing these changes faster than what would be considered the normal evolution of language. This *can* make it harder for the average person to remember the new terms even in their best attempts to remember and show respect, and it makes it easier for people to dismiss if they are not concerned about showing respect.

If everyone agrees, and they can be taught and practiced, I think that makes for better chances of the new language to be used correctly.

And a funny brain-fart moment, when I tried to think of an Aunt/Uncle word, my brain spit out Ankle.     

L~