Greetings, sentient!
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
45 points (89.5% liked)
Ask Lemmy
38711 readers
986 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Mage
I've seen enough posts related to etymology or historical use of words where they, either misrepresent the facts to fit a narrative or just make shit up, that I try to look it up my self. I also find etymology fascinating so that helps.
In this case they are absolutely right.
Both Mr and. Mrs,ms are derived from master and mistress (teachers) and both of those words stem from the Latin word Magister.
Edit: fun fact the English verb stick is the same word as the noun stick and comes from the same origin the Germanic word stik which also meant a piece of wood and to pierce/adhere or sharp. But wait it's older than that the Latin word stigare also means pierce. And share the same ancestry, namely indo-european. Turns out we humans have been talking about sticks for a long time.
...why not just "magister" and avoid a word that already has very strong, current connotations with fantasy?
I mean, mages are pretty cool. π§ββοΈ
I just call everyone "comrade".
Just say Y'all, it pretty much covers that
S'mr'amr
Fucker!
RoboCop "citizen"
I like referring to all as boss or chief.
Sounds like something a food truck vendor selling spicy shawarmas would say.
Sounds like something a villain's goon would say.
I prefer "fellow human" spoken in a slightly suspicious manner.
Comrade
FWIW, Sir is gender neutral in the military β this came up in Star Trek Voyager, anyway. Basically if your senior officer isnβt male, theyβre sir until they tell you otherwise.
Sir is gender neutral in fictional militaries. Every woman holding a commission I ever encountered was ma'am. Didn't matter the country.
Yes, Star Trek is fictional.
Sir hasnβt been gender neutral in my military for like 30 years at least
load more comments
(8 replies)
Personally, I like "Sir" as in the Star Trek/Orville usage. It did happy things to my brain when the crew on the Orville referred to Commander Kelly Grayson (a cis woman) as "Sir", respectfully referring to her by her proper title as a commanding officer. That was cool. I like the gender neutral "Sir" a lot.
But for casual usage, "Friend" or "Neighbor" is nice. "Hey, neighbor, you dropped this." "Excuse me, friend, lemme reach around you here."
Yeah I think "sir" trumps madam because it's professional
load more comments
(3 replies)
Some of my friends use "yes them" jokingly to replace yes sir/yes ma'am. Certainly not correct in any grammatical way, but it does flow well enough and is kindof funny as long as the person being addressed doesnt mind.
I love this question and the discourse it's spawned!
personally I'll use "friend" if I'm at all acquainted with the other person or bend over backwards to not use one if I'm not. not too hard to leave it out if you try, and like anything becomes second nature pretty quick.
that being said I do use "chef" a lot, especially the phrase "heard, chef!" and I haven't worked in a kitchen in almost a decade lol
Having worked in the retail sector for some time, I quickly learned that appearances are often deceiving after a few embarrassing blunders on my part. I taught myself to call everyone 'my friend'. I had no more problems after that.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Chief is the only correct answer.
I often call people chief. One time I started to say Yessir, realized midway the person I was taking to might not appreciate the label, tried to change lanes and say Yeah, Chief, and wound up saying Yes Chef.
We had a really good conversation about The Bear TV series afterwards
I mean chef literally means chief
I've asked people to call me 'it'. Hasn't happened yet.
Yesn't, I can do that
I'd accept 'your majesty'
I use 'homie' sometimes. It's not always the right option but it's another arrow in the quiver.
load more comments
(3 replies)
Ran into that problem with my enby friend. Specifically in the jokey context, like when a friend asks you to do something and you say βYes Sir!β Or βYes Maβam!β in a kind of over the top way. They hadnβt really thought about it either and they were flummoxed too. We wound up with βYes Colonel!β
Yes chef!
view more: next βΊ