And exactly equivalent to the naval rank of Commander – which is what the RAF wanted to call it, but the Royal Navy got sniffy about someone else using “their” ranks. (Similarly, Flight Lieutenant ← Lieutenant, Group Captain ← Captain, Air Commodore ← Commodore.)
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Same way you pronounce the X in ‘Ximinez’ is my vote. Try it and see. Feels good, man.
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Innie & Outtie
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How about “the same way that you pronounce the x in ‘espresso?’”
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Huh. 
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That reminds me, I still have to get around to paying my $30 to become an ordained minister of the church of the subgenius.
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Twist! Jocks were the most gender-linguistically progressive the whole time…
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That gets you a FUCK YEAH
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Personally, I run into this problem all the time because I grew up (in the U.S.) reading primarily British books and also lived in Britain for a while as an adult. Their version of English treats groups differently than we do, and I always forget which is which.
The family is versus the family are
The staff is versus the staff are
…that sort of thing.
And “meadows” can be a term that just happens to have an “s” on it while being singular: think of a park named “The Meadows” or something like that.
Also, “there is” to introduce a concept is a known technique, especially in the U.S.
For me, “them there” makes me think of Twain or Faulkner – immortalizing regional speech patterns in literature – and is the part that registers more as technically ungrammatical.
Strange to think that our greatest writers are not the ones who change our language…they merely record it for posterity. We’ll see the change from Mr/Mrs/Miss to Mx (or something else) in news reports, online essays, and finally legal documents, and that’s what will prove the progression to the new normal in our language. It won’t come from our best or most appreciated writers.
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It still grates every time I watch sports over here and ‘is’ is used to describe the team instead of ‘are’.
This seems relevant today.
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Long Tall Sally
Big Daddy Kane
Li’l Wayne
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Isn’t it "Mistress?’ Or “Missus” less formally.
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Good for Jamie!
I really dislike buerocracy and am a Stealth Enby, but if this becomes common and easy to do I might just get it done.
Right now I’m in a position similar to the author of El Goonish Shive. I slightly prefer “they,” but I don’t bother asking for it actively and don’t mind other pronouns, on the basis of “it’s just easier.”
But I’ve complained to my representative about his web form requiring people to choose an honorific which is either gendered, Rev or Dr. A few years ago I was an ordained priest in an African traditional religion and could legitimately use Rev, but to use it now would be fraudelent… but using “Mr.” isn’t really right either 
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And…don’t leave us in suspense. Defrocked? Lost your faith?
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Always glad to see another EGS reader! I’ve been really enjoying reading Dan’s author’s notes about gender.
I’m genderqueer, but present as male most of the time, so I’m fine with masculine pronouns. Plus, most of the time it’s just not a fight I wish to have, but if someone else declares a preference, then I will do my absolute best to comply with their wishes and to correct others when they don’t. (Although to be honest, I’ll often just work around not using a gendered pronoun at all when I’m not sure of someone’s preference.)
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Resigned. About 2/3 not wanting to deal with peoples’ drama anymore, and 1/3 not feeling like I was growing from the experience of being in the group. Didn’t lose my faith per se, but did in the “so what are you gonna do about it?” aspect.
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I only started reading EGS when that very comic showed up on my Facebook feed a couple of weeks ago, and needed something to do at work while running some very slow tests. I’ve only gotten up to August 2008 so far, but I prefer binge-reading webcomics instead of waiting for them anyway 
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Kinda like an ‘h’ then? (I don’t know how to pronounce Ximinez either.)
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How about “the same way that you pronounce the x in ‘espresso?’”
You are now on my kill list.
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Yes! My plan to artisanally offend everyone in the world is proceeding on schedule!
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