[Ads-l] "Mx."

[Dave Wilton]

It's been in the OED since December 2015 (about six months after the NY Times article). The first citation is from 1977. Pronounced /mɪks/.

The OED says: "Mx was originally offered as an alternative to Mr, Mrs, Miss, and Ms, as a means to avoid having to specify a person's gender, but has frequently been adopted as a title by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female (e.g. transgender or intersex people)."

Is the original sense, that of a person of unknown gender, still used? Or has the term become restricted to people of non-binary gender? Both are useful, but the original sense can be incredibly useful, especially in business correspondence where the gender of the person being addressed is often unknown.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Rowan McMullin
Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 9:45 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "Mx."

"Mix"

On Wed, Jul 3, 2019, 9:43 AM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <markamandel at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Mx."
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Which directly raises a question of mine: How is it pronounced? In 
> writing that question is circumvented, but this explicitly places it 
> in conversational speech.
>
> Mark Mandel
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019, 10:38 AM Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Urban Dictionary says:
> >
> > "Mx. The title of a person who is neither female nor male (or not 
> > strictly either). Like Mr. and Ms. but for gender variants.
> >
> >    'Mx. Walker is my teacher for science.  They're really cool!'"
> >
> > G. Cohen
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of 
> > James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 9:24 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: "Mx."
> >
> >
> > In an on-line solicitation to send an email to NJ Governor Murphy 
> > about ending solitary confinement, there was an entry for Salutation 
> > which offered the following options:
> >
> > Mr.
> > Mrs.
> > Ms   (note, no period)
> > Miss
> > Dr.
> > Mx.  (note the period)
> >
> > "Mx." is a new one on me.  I guess it has something to do with 
> > sexual orientation.  Is it common/nonce/being widely advocated or what?
> >
> > And if you have a doctorate, are you above showing your sexual
> orientation?
> >
> > - Jim Landau (who is fuddy-duddy enough to stick with "Mr.")
> >
> >
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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