Gender neutral language in English: Difference between revisions

'''Gender neutral language in English''' is easier than [[gender neutral language]] (also called gender inclusive language) in many other languages, because its grammatical gender is less pervasive than in, say, German or French. See the main article on [[gender neutral language]] for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for [[nonbinary]] people.

Although English has grammatical gender, it's only a vestige of what it once had. Old English once had grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but this practice started to disappear in the 700s, and vanished in the 1200s. The population of England at that time spoke several languages, and the same inanimate objects had different genders in those different languages. They may have stopped using that part entirely just to make it simpler. English stopped using grammatical gender for inanimate objects, but it still uses grammatical gender for people and personal pronouns.<ref>Dictionary.com. "English used to have gendered nouns?! Yes!" May 16, 2012. ''Dictionary.com'' (blog). [http://blog.dictionary.com/oldenglishgender/ http://blog.dictionary.com/oldenglishgender/]</ref> There is enough to make a challenge for nonbinary people who don't want gendered language to be used for them.

Gender-neutral language has become common in English today largely thanks to the pioneering work by feminists Casey Miller and Kate Swift. During the 1970s, they began the work of encouraging inclusive language, as an alternative to sexist language that excludes or dehumanizes women. Miller and Swift wrote a manual on gender-neutral language, ''The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing'' (1980). Miller and Swift also proposed a set of gender-neutral pronouns, [[English neutral pronouns#Tey|tey]], although they later favored [[English neutral pronouns#They|singular they]], or [[English neutral pronouns#He or she|he or she]].<ref>Elizabeth Isele, "Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women who dared to disturb the lexicon." http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/old-WILLA/fall94/h2-isele.html </ref> There are several books on gender-neutral English, such as Rosalie Maggio's book ''The Nonsexist Word Finder: A Dictionary of Gender-Free Usage'' (1989).

''See main article at [[Gender neutral titles]].''

! Gender inclusive (could be masculine or feminine)

| Boy, youth

| Man, gentleman, lad

{{common word|word1 = Parent|meaning1 = Neutral, formal|ref1=<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>}}

* '''Baba.''' "Neutral, based on mama and dada. (Note, baba means dad in some languages and grandmother in others.)"<ref name="titles queeries">"Gender neutral/queer titles." ''Gender Queeries.'' [http://genderqueeries.tumblr.com/titles http://genderqueeries.tumblr.com/titles]</ref>

* '''Bibi.''' "Queer, based on the B in NB [nonbinary], similar to mama and papa/dada."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Cenn.''' "Neutral, short for cennend," which see.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Cennend.''' "Neutral, Old English (Anglo-Saxon) meaning parent."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Da.''' "Queer mixture (note: sounds like Ma, Pa )

*'''Dommy.''' "Queer, mixture of mommy and daddy (note: sounds like Dom/me, a BDSM term)."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Maddy.''' "Queer, mixture of mummy/mommy and daddy."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Moddy.''' "Queer, mixture of mommy and daddy."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Muddy.''' "Queer, mixture of mummy and daddy."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Nini.''' "Queer, based on the N in NB, similar to mama and papa/dada."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Par.''' "Neutral, short for parent."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Parental Unit (PU).''' Neutral, informal, humorous, possibly disrespectful. Used by the alien family in ''Coneheads,'' and taken up by popular culture.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Per.''' "Neutral, short for parent."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref> (See also: [[Pronouns#Per|per pronouns]] and [[Gender neutral titles#Pr|Pr title]].)

* '''Ren.''' Derived from "pa<u>ren</u>t." Gender-neutral. The equivalent to mommy or daddy is "renny." Coined or popularized by Katie Hall in 2017.<ref> Katie Hall. June 11, 2017. https://ithelpstodream.tumblr.com/post/161695436793 </ref>

* '''Zaza.''' "Queer, based on mama and papa/dada."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Zither.''' "Queer, based on mother and father. (Note, zither is also the name of a musical instrument.)"<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

Some of these gender-inclusive or gender-queer words refer only to relationship (as in daughter, son, or offspring), others only to age (girl, boy, or young one), and some to both (children).

* '''Bitsy.''' Non-standard [[genderqueer]] term for a very young person.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Charge.''' Standard gender neutral word for a person in the care of another, often one's child.

*'''Chitlin.''' A way of saying children in a non plural way, often used when referring to a nonbinary child.

* '''Dependent.''' A person who relies on another-- usually a family member who may or may not be their parent-- for financial support; this is most often used as a standard gender-neutral word for a child too young to work. Formal.

* '''Enby.''' From "NB (nonbinary)", a nonbinary equivalent of the words "boy" and "girl." However, some adults call themselves enbies.

* '''Get.''' Poetic language for offspring.

* '''Little one.''' Neutral word for a very young child or young offspring.

* '''Minor.''' Standard gender-neutral word for a person under the legal age of consent.

* '''Nesser.''' Non-standard genderqueer term for "daughter/son".<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Offspring.''' Neutral, standard word, but not usually used for people, except in legal language.

* '''Oldest.''' Neutral, a way of speaking of one's offspring by saying "my oldest," rather than saying "my daughter/son."<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Sprog.''' Neutral, crude word for a young person.<ref name="titles queeries"></ref>

* '''Youth.''' Neutral, poetic word for a young person, but usually implied to be male.

* '''Young.''' Neutral, standard word for offspring, but not usually used for people ("my young.")