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Florida teacher fired for using gender-neutral honorific ‘Mx.’
(www.nbcnews.com)
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this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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Like "mix". It's fairly simple to most people who have common sense and aren't actively trying to be offended over nothing.
I pronounce it phonetically precisely because this is not an abbreviation of any word. But honestly I have no idea, this asking.
”Good morning, I am Mx. Vary, your science teacher." That's it, that's all you need for the entire year.
Do your classes take place entirely over text? They’re asking how you pronounce that in speech.
Mr. Is short for “Mister” Mrs is short for mistress, but is usually pronounced “Misses”
So how does one pronounce Mx.? Mix or Mixter? Mixes? And sometimes Xs are pronounced like Z, so is it just Mmmz?
Asking how to pronounce someone’s preferred pronouns is entirely reasonable when their preferred pronoun is not a regular part of the English language. I’d rather know how to say something and not offend someone than say it wrong for who knows how long and definitely offend them.
In my area, it is pronounced "mix".
Switch the scenario a bit: "Dr. = doctor. Wait--dr? How do you pronounce that? Oh, dr = doctor." Info learned and no conflict needed.
If they're saying it, they just told you how to pronounce it. That's my point.
Yeah, but I’m trying to learn for myself, and have never had anyone say it to me.
So you’re not really helping by assuming I should know how to pronounce a new word
I'm not assuming you would know. Nobody is. If they're introducing themselves, that's how you would know. If you are a third party and want to learn for yourself, there is a very easy way to do that.
Okay, but like, if you were in their class you would hear them say it to you and then you'd know.
If you actually cared you'd just look it up tbh.
maybe the x is silent? is it pronounced mi, like in the solfege song?
Your version of "common sense" in this situation only applies to a small minority that naturally extrapolates beyond the meaning of the statement alone.
"Mx." as a prefix is not in any way established in common vernacular, nor does it easily make sense unless you assume they're doing something specific that most people don't do.
However, the law says that anyone is free to do so as they please; you can sexually identify in any way and must not be discriminated against for that in terms of your employment.
And I thought it is m-ex, like reading the letter "x".
It's pronounced emacs
I thought that they were declaring themselves as a mail exchange
I'm more of a 'vi' guy.
:q
It's not immediately intuitive in my opinion, but it does make sense once you remember that other M- honorifics start "Mi". Mister, missus, miss. Then it makes sense to follow, mix.
I think some people use it one way and others the other. I don't think there's one universal correct way.
It's not "fairly simple if you have common sense". The known abbreviations have been in use for a hundred or more years and are widely known. Everyone knows how to pronounce them, the only curveball is Mrs being misses since it was originallymistress but that word later became associated with cheating and "ladies of the night".
Mx was made up recently, it stands for nothing AFAIK. They just took the standard M beginning and slapped X on it because X tends to mean "unknown".
It's akin to asking you to address me as "Zf. Cat" because that's what makes me feel comfortable.
Repeat your argument when the concept of Mr and Mrs were introduced.
Language evolves as we learn new things. Computer used to refer to a person. "We have floppy discs, so why make a new name for CDs?"
They weren't introduced in anything like an analogous way. Mr and Mrs evolved slowly over decades and even centuries from older forms referring to master and mistress.
I don't have a strong opinion about Mx either way, but as an amateur linguistics nerd I can assure you that the way it's been introduced to our lexicon is very different from these much older terms.
Yep, language flows and changes over long periods of time, not through a court order or "marginalized" people screaming "we want our own pronoun that we just came up with to be culturally except! If you don't comply, you are an insensitive asshole!"
How slowly was the introduction of the word covid? As a linguist, the change of language is the fascination.
Most floppy disks aren't floppy either, so maybe not the best example.
The argument is "Mr and Mrs are established in society. It is stupid to add Mx."
Floppy discs were well established. Was it stupid to add CD to our vocabulary?
Actually the floppy part of the disk is inside the plastic case. It's a floppy piece of magnetic tape.
But that's a great example of how language evolves - people don't even know what the name means, and yet they know what it is.
Except it's not like that at all, because you just made that honorific up!
Mx. has an actual cultural context outside of their classroom. Sure, it's new, but it's not like this teacher just made it up themselves.
"Mx" was also just made up by someone.
So was every word in existence.
What is that context? You failed to include it.
The context is Mx. already being used and recognized around the country and around the world. It's new, but it's not just something the teacher made up.
You're the divisive one here, suggesting people are hateful for having legitimate questions.
It's so simple, just like Mr. Is pronounced merr.
You're very much part of the problem.
I don't remember writing that anyone was hateful. Actively trying to be offended, yes. Legitimate questions ask questions like this "So how is Mx pronounced?". The comment was I replied to intended to mock it, not ask in good faith. But see, you'd have to come to that conclusion by using common sense, so here we are again.
So common sense is dictated now by a few members of niche social media circles?
What is the actual anger you feel?
A few people in our society would like their honorific to be Mx. How does that impact your life?
One, it's virtue signaling at its best.
Secondly, randomly adding in the letter x to things is not 'common sense'.
Common sense is the ability to make practical judgments and behave in a sensible way. It's the knowledge and experience that most people have, or should have.
So my original point still stands. 'Mx' is not common sense. Knowing not to play a game of chicken with traffic, is common sense. Maybe this is why common sense isn't so common anymore, people just appropriate words/phrases to mean whatever they want, instead of what they mean.
This is how we've ended up in a world where the word literally no longer means the word literally.
Bitcoin isn't common sense. NFTs aren't common sense. Picking fruit in Brazil, sending it to China for packaging, and shipping to Brazil for resale isn't common sense.
Common sense doesn't work as a magic guide.
Is it virtue signaling for someone named Benjamin to ask to be called Ben? The request is to know their name. That's all.
Bitcoin and NFTs... That's the counter argument you go with. Fucking Christ...
You'd think someone using the name CaptPretentious would be all in favor of things being made up by niche social circles.
Sorry was I supposed to put my first name, last name, social Security number, and mother's maiden name as my username?
Well see, common sense would have me ask "hm, how do I say that?" then google it, then when I see that it's simply pronounced "mix" I'd say "oh, okay". And then go on about my day... instead of ranting about how hard it is to figure out and how angry it should make everyone. But that's just me.
If it were me, I would probably figure out what the person I'm trying to argue arguing with was actually arguing about. Instead of getting up on a soapbox and pretending like I know what I'm arguing about. But that would take effort.
But you keep using those canned responses you got ready to go.
Wow, those two letters really shook you. Deep breaths.
My position has fuck all to do with the letters.
But you really need it to be don't you. Because your canned responses only work if that's what I'm arguing about.