The letters page ‘In The Chapters’ by Ann Parks, page 21, gives some context - it appears that a previous issue had asked a question to which Mx was one of the suggested answers:
There has been some response to the question of what to call men and women (other than Mr. and Mrs./Ms.). Ex–husbands are WASbands, of course. Pat Kite (Single-Again Scrapbook, April SINGLE PARENT) felt that both sexes should be designated MX. But Dalynn Hoeflin (Solano County, CA 92) feels that males should be
But the actual first use in print is on Page 16 in an article called ‘Single-Again Scrapbook’ by Pat Kite. This appears to be a short story, possibly part of a serial, involving a flirtatious encounter at a party:
“THE WORST PROBLEM facing the single woman today is having to decide whether she is Miss., Mrs., or Ms.,” said the Blue-Eyed Man as he sat sipping his rosé.
“Ooohh, really?” I gasped, swallowing my frito whole.
“I’m glad you agree,” nodded the Man, taking the matches from my hand to light my cigarette. “Now, where I work we make it a point to call every female ‘Ms.’ It took me quite a while, but I made it. Now everybody’s happy.”
“Where do you work?” I asked.
“The welfare bureau.”
“Do you mean if you get a widow who was married forty-eight years in your office, and you address her as Ms., she likesit?”
“Why not?” said the Man.
“Frankly the term Mizzzz reminds me of the servant section of a pre Civil War Southern plantation,” I commented, drawing out the words through clenched teeth.
“Oh, that was in the past” smiled the happy Man. “Now Ms. for everyone connotes individuality. What tile do you go by?”
“Mrs.” I replied with a shrug.
“Why Mrs.?”
“Because I have four children and I like them to look legitimate, that’s why. Anyhow, if Mrs. and Miss are to be shortened to Ms., then I think Mister and Master should be changed to Muster … abbreviated Mu. On second thought, maybe both sexes should be called Mx. That would solve the gender problem entirely.”
“Are you a women’s libber or something?” said the horrified Man. "Then how come you didn’t get mad when I lit your cigarette?“
“Because it was a gesture of courtesy,” I answered, “and I don’t think good manners ever go out of style. Besides, I love having doors opened for me, and my heavy packages carried.”
“Oh, then you’re not a libber!” said the Man with a sigh of relief.
“It all depends on how you look at it,” I replied. "For instance, if you’ll give me my matches back, I’ll be able to light your cigarettes. We could take turns.“
"You wouldn’t. . . .!”
“Why not?” I said with a tiny smirk.
“You know, the biggest problem women have today is whether to be Miss, Mrs., or Ms.,” said the Man, as he took the matches from his pocket and lit my Bel-air.
“Not quite, kind Sir,” I commented, trying to change the topic to the artistic merits of Alice Cooper.
"Yes really, Ma'am,“ laughed the Man as he got up to dance.
And we mixed our whimsey with our wine until well past midnight.”
Their boyfriend is their partner why is this hard to understand
Also, “partner” is just a good word? It implies an equal relationship where both of your work together in pursuit of something, whether that be life goals or just having fun together.
It’s a good word. People should use it more.
look, she’s not my wife at the moment and “girlfriend” just feels inadequate given she’s not a girl and we’ve been at this 8 years and own a house together.
and on the plus side it’s hilarious to see what kind of assumptions people make
I mentioned “my partner” to some guy next to me on a plane once back in 2019 and he was like “oh… well as long as you’re both happy!” and I sat on that plane for another three hours and then the entire cab ride home before realizing “oh, he thought I was with another man”
a former mutual saw me using the term and since I don’t exactly go around broadcasting my gender on this hellsite, assumed I was a lesbian
Author’s Note: I am aware that there are so people out there that own plushies, because it’s helps them a lot, so I thought that I should write something for them! <3
◙ Hanzo may seems like he’s a very judgemental person, but in reality he’s pretty understanding
◙ You were aware of that, but you just were ready to tell him that you own a stuffies
◙ Having them was helping you a lot, they were part of your safe space and you couldn’t image not having them
◙ You were happy to own and your friends knew you owned them and supported you
◙ You just were worried how Hanzo would react
◙ So when you and Hanzo started living together you were completely nervous
◙ He noticed it, of course and asked about it, but you just told him not to worry
◙ Some time later, he found them in your shared closed
◙ He came to you after finding them, asking who you bought them for
◙ His first thought was that you bought them for some kid from your family
◙ You turned completely red when you saw Hanzo holding them
◙ “Those are mine, Hanzo.”
◙ He looked surprised, but said nothing, seeing how anxious you were, he just gave them to you and gave you some space, seeing you need it
◙ Later he came to you, seeing you in bed with one of your stuffies, he asked about it
◙ He wasn’t sounding like he was disappointed he was curious about them
◙ You explained the whole thing to him
◙ And he understood
◙ “Do they have names?” He couldn’t help himself
◙ He was happy to listen
◙ Of course, Hanzo was supportive
◙ He even bought you one stuffie, because it reminded him of you
◙ Because of you, he was thinking about getting stuffies too (Let’s be honest, this dude has trauma)
⋆ Genji knows how to deal with panic attacks, because he was experiencing them when he was in Blackwatch
⋆ Whenever he was having a panic attack, he was going to Angela, because he trusted her and she was a doctor, and knew how to deal with it
⋆ He picked up some things from her, when she was calming him down, so now he knows what he should do
⋆ When you have a panic attack, he would take his mask off, so it would be easier for you to focus on breathing with him
⋆ He took off his mask and focused his eyes on you. “Hey, look at me.” He grabbed your hands, squeezing them lightly, speaking softly. “Breath in…” He took a deep breath and you followed. “And out. One more time, okay?”
⋆ Genji is not leaving you until he knows you’re okay
⋆ As soon as you’re breathing is under control, he’ll ask what happened. You don’t have to tell him if you don’t want to, he’s going to respect that
⋆ He’s going to give a hug and will ask what would cheer you up
Hanzo Shimada
⋆ Hanzo is similar to Genji, he has experienced panic attacks, but he didn’t have anyone to comfort him
⋆ So he’s gonna a bit lost when it happens, but he’s gonna do his best to help you
⋆ He’s going to gently hold you his arms, whispering things to help you calm down
⋆ “I’m here, darling. I’m not leaving you, everything’s gonna be alright.” He murmured, kissing the top of your head, hoping it would help at least a bit
⋆ He’ll wipe your tears away, while asking if there’s anything he could for you to help you
⋆ When you’re calm and feel better, Hanzo will bring you some water
Cole Cassidy
⋆ Cole will let you play with his metal hand, so you can get distracted
⋆ He knows a bit about them, because once saw Genji having panic attack during blackwatch times and decide to help him
⋆ He’s going to help with calming your breathing
⋆ He can also give his poncho if you feel like hiding from the world (even his hat if you really want)
⋆ “You’re safe pumpkin, it’s gonna be okay.” He whispered, kissing your forehead
⋆ He’ll also talk about random things to distract you even more
⋆ And joking to cheer you up
Gabriel Reyes/Reaper
⋆ He may seem like rough man, but when you’re crying and shaking, he’s soft and gentle
⋆ Wiping your tears away, not daring to leave you until you’re okay
⋆ and what I mean by that, is he won’t leave you until he sees you’re okay, you can say what you want, he’s not leaving until he’s sure that everything is fine, this man can read you like a open book
⋆ Holding your hands, helping you breathe
⋆ You can hide your face in his chest if you wish
⋆ “Breathe in…And out, you’re doing great honey.” He smiled a bit, gently caressing your hand with his thumbs
⋆ Reyes is going to have conversation about these panic attack/s with you, because he what’s yo know how to help
⋆ For example, getting rid of someone or something that is stressing you out
Lucio Corrieira dos Santos
⋆ Lucio was quite lost when you happened to have a panic attack, but that doesn’t mean he would leave you
⋆ He would hold you close to him, murmuring random song to distract you
⋆ “I’ve got you, ____.”
⋆ When you calm down, he would softly ask if you want to talk about this, of course respecting if you would say no
⋆ But he’s still gonna bring up the topic later, he’s just worried about you and wants to help you
Jamison Fawkes/Junkrat
⋆ He has on idea what to do honestly
⋆ When it happened for the first time, he was panicking a bit, because he had no idea what he should do
⋆ Right after he made sure you were okay, he went to Mako to ask him what he should do next time this happens
⋆ Mako explained it all to him, so next time you would get panic attack, Jamison would be prepared
⋆ He did his best to help with calming down your breathing
“You’re doing amazing, mate. Just one more time.” He kept you close to him, in case you wanted a hug
Felt like I should write it - Genji and Reader are both 18 years old
Warning: Kidnapping, Murderer, Stalking, A bit of NSFW, It’s kinda brutal
❥ Believe me or not, but Young Genji is much more brutal than Blackwatch or Current Genji
❥ He’s ready to kill everybody. And when I say everybody, I mean absolutely everybody
❥ Your parents are complete assholes? He can get rid of them if you want!
❥ Person from your class is flirting with you and you’re uncomfortable with that? Somehow they’ve been hit by a train right after school!
❥ There’s a teacher you hate? Don’t worry, they’ll disappear in the next 24 hours
❥ If someone is too much into you, the last thing they’ll see is Genji, his katana and bodies of people he murdered for you
❥ He keeps all of the bodies in the Shimada Castle underground and it’s a miracle nobody found them
❥ Talking about being a part of Shimadas - because Genji’s family is pretty rich and knows a lot of people, it’s easy for him to get out of trouble. No matter what will he do and how much his family will not like it, they will not let anyone know (luckily they still don’t know, somehow)
❥ If he doesn’t has anyone to get rid of, he’ll make sure you get home safe. Eventually will find an excuse to go with you
❥ Of course he has a small place where he likes to sit and watch after you enter your house. He has a great view for room
❥ When he gets some nice views, he takes a pictures of you. Mostly after taking them, he’s touching himself to them as soon as he’s back in his room
❥ When you weren’t at your house, he stole some things of yours to get off to them later
❥ He also has a small room dedicated to you, where he keeps your picture and things he stole from you
❥ At school, he’s nice to you and a bit flirty. He does his best to make you feel like he’s the best person you know
❥ The amount of times kidnapping you came to his head is a lot, he is very impatient, but he’s aware that if he wants to do it well, he has to wait for good moment and be ready for it
❥ When it eventually happens, Genji is prepared for every possibility
❥ At first he planned to kidnapping you straight from your bedroom, but after thinking, he decided to do when it’s going to be dark, so nobody will see it
❥ Once you’re finally his, he won’t let you go
❥ He gave you a nice room in Shimada Castle underground
❥ He keeps you tied, because even though he loves you, he doesn’t trust you
❥ Calls you cute pet names and acts like he’s your boyfriend
❥ I mentioned that he’s pretty brutal, it can go towards you if you won’t be nice to him, try to escape or be aggressive and hurt him
❥ He won’t hurt you seriously unless you make him angry, like really angry
❥ Using his shurikens to leave deep cuts on your face and your body, stabbing your thighs till you beg for mercy, he’s pretty creative with punishments for you
❥ He’s careful
❥ He will hurt you, but not enough to kill you
❥ And he calls you a “bad pet” and things similar to this
❥ Genji waits till you’re begging for mercy, start to faint or start losing too much blood, before he starts patching you up
❥ While he’s patching you up, he’ll say that he’s sorry, but tell that it’s your fault for making him angry and you should never do that again
❥ Since he’s obsessed with you, he’ll get you almost everything you ask for
❥ Comfortable bed? You got it! Your favorite meal? On it’s way! Need some new clothes? He’s on his way to get them for you!
❥ Wanna go outside? Don’t even think about asking that. Best possible scenario is him trying to explain to you why it’s the best for you to stay with him
❥ When you would be too loud he would tape your mouth or put gag on you
❥ When you would be mean and he wouldn’t want to hurt you, he would leave completely alone in your room and come back hours or even days later to “make you miss him”
❥ Most days, he doesn’t leave your sight. Genji is very cuddly and he tries to show you how much he loves you
❥ Even though he might be a monster, he would never pressure you into things like sex or kissing. He might a bad person, but he has boundaries
❥ If you would be interested in having sex with him, he’s willing to fulfill your every fantasy and make you enjoy yourself
❥ Of course you can stop him at any moment
❥ If you’re going to gain his trust, he might show you bodies of all the people he killed for you. Telling you it’s a “surprise”
❥If you would end up passing out or having a panic/anxiety attack after seeing that, he would leave the room with you to help you calming down or just anything to make you feel better
❥ If you would end up yelling at for killing people, Genji would be quiet before getting you back to your room and go get his emotions out (he would either go training his ninja skills or hurt someone)
❥ If would somehow escape from Shimada Castle, Genji will do anything to get you back
❥ Going to your house, your favorite places
❥ He won’t stop searching for you until you’re his again
First of all, sorry for being dead. Just so you know, I didn’t decide stop writing or anything like that, lately my motivation was shit even tho I had some idea what I should write about. And last two week been pretty stressful for me. Changing the subject, I’m adding Overwatch to my masterlist. Don’t be surprised if now it’s gonna be more ow than marvel, cuz I’m playing this game a lot and I’ obsessed with Genji and I main him even tho I’m still learning how to play him. (Just like Brigitte says “Practice makes perfect”) I hope you’re going to enjoy after not getting anything from me! ^^’
✧Genji is a romantic guy, you should definitely expect him to give you gifts for no occasion or taking you out for dates
✧ He’s very cuddly, so on day when both you don’t have to go to work, he won’t let you leave bed too early
✧ Kitchen is his place, he loves to cook and he’s absolute master at it! Got any requests? Just get him the ingredients he needs and he’ll make you your favorite dish!
✧ Of course Genji enjoys cooking with you, byt he still prefers do it on his own
✧ And after preparing a meal, romantic dinner is a must! Especially when you’re coming back from work and tired, dinner made by boyfriend is the thing you need
✧ Very important thing - Genji will not let you touch his weapons. Not because he doesn’t like them being touched, (of course he hates when strangers try to touch them) but he’s just afraid you would hurt yourself, na matter if you know how to use weapons or not
✧ Get ready for listening for a lot stories. About his youth, Overwatch, Blackwatch, travels and everything before he met you. He just really wants you to know him fully, because he doesn’t want to hide who he was then and who he is now
✧ He won’t admit it, but he absolutely loves when you kiss his visor. You’ll always get a giggle from him for doing so
✧ Sometimes he has bad days, because of everything that happened to him and all he needs is you, so hug him, tell him you love him and be with him when he needs you to
✧ Of course, he will be with you whenever need him. He’s also willing to leave alone if you tell him to, Genji won’t pressure anything. He knows that if want to talk about something, you’ll come to him
✧ After spending a lot of time with his master, Zenyatta, Genji learned how important is communication. He does his best to show you how necessary it is to talk. Trust me, talking with him about your relationship or just in general will make your relationship great
✧ If you ever wanted to have some late night conversations, Genji’s perfect for it. He’s not getting tired easily, because he’s cyborg and he just absolutely spending night like this
✧ Does Genji ever get jealous? Of course. He’s completely aware that you won’t cheat on him, but the way some people look at you or flirt with you, just make him wanna send them a death glare and take you away from them
✧ He’s an amazing kisser! Genji has a lot of experience when it comes to kissing, so you won’t be disappointed. If you never kissed anyone before, he has no problem with teaching you how to do it
✧ Even though Genji is very good at kissing, his kisses can feel a little rough, because has a few scars across his lips
✧ He has some scars across his face and his body and he just loves when kiss them, because it really makes him feel loved, accepted and safe, especially after everything that happened to him
✧ You’re one of not many people who are allowed to see him without his visor, because he feels safe enough to show his face to you
✧ Sometimes when Genji wants to intimate with you (not just sex) he would take off some of his armor so you can touch his skin. It’s great for cuddles! But don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret
✧ Going shopping with him is kinda fun, kinda not. He sometimes acts like a parent. Example - “We don’t need more sweets, koibito. We got them at home."
✧ Breakfast in bed? Oh absolutely!
✧ Of course with Genji coming to your live, his dragon Soba comes with him. She’s just as cute as her owner, but she really like to cause trouble and destroy cups, so keep them away from her
✧ Genji is a very supportive lover! He’ll support no matter what, unless your decision are harmful or illegal
✧ If you have any problems with anxiety, depression and stuff like that, he will go to therapist with you. (unless you don’t want him to, he’ll respect your decision) He’ll also try to help the way Zenyatta helped him, so for example he’ll ask you to meditate with him
✧ Talking about meditation - Genji meditates at least once a day. He doesn’t mind you joining, but he preferres when it’s quiet when his meditating
✧ Did I mention that Genji is a gentleman? No matter what gender you are, he’ll be a total gentleman
✧ He’s very gentle with you. Genji is sometimes afraid that he might hurt you, because he’s a cyborg. It never happened, but he’s still afraid
✧ If you ever want to dye your hair, Genji is ready to help with it! When he was younger, he dyed his hair a lot and it was mostly bright colors, so you can say he’s an expert. Just make sure to secure most of his armor, cuz dye is not going to leave quickly
Got bored so here we are, writing about huge blue boy. Since lately I don’t feel like writing one shots, (kick my ass for that) I’m giving you more headcanons. BTW this Monday I start practics in my city and idk I’ll have energy or time to write anything so please be aware of that. So there might no post for a whole month. Sorry about that, I just want to get a good grade.
• let’s say you’re a bit smaller than average human, just to keep things fun
• Loki absolutely adores the fact that you’re tiny
• will absolutely tease you about it
• “My little Midgardian.”
• Loves holding you in his hands and on his shoulder
• lots of kisses
• he mostly kisses top of your head
• you love kissing his whole face, he giggles when you do that
• head pats (he uses his index finger to do that)
• gentle with you, because he’s aware he can break you easily
• call him snowflake or any other nickname related to the fact he’s Jötun, if you wanna see him blush
• being near him during summer
• ofc he doesn’t mind
• you have to yell to get his attention (when you’re not on shoulder or in his hands)
• if you’ll talking to him the way you to talk to others, he’s not going to hear you
• “Hey, Loki! Have a sec?!”
• after that he would take you in his hand or crouch down, or kneel so he can hear you. “Yes, my darling? Did something happen?”
• visiting him on Jötunheim
• you had to learn a spell that would keep you warm while spending time in his realm, winter clothes are not enough
• always keeping you close to him during your visiting, because he doesn’t want some giants to accidentally step on you
• he was joking about getting you a tiny throne
• he also thinks about getting you a tiny horn crown, so you two could be matching, he loves that idea
Warnings : one mention of kinky stuff but that’s all
You and Steve met, when Bucky decided to introduce you to his best friend
At first Steve was intimated by you, especially your unusual makeup
But even though you were looking a bit scary for him, he decided to try making friends with you
He wasn’t regretting it, you were nice to him and he absolutely loved your personality. Of course you liked him too, he was probably the most polite person you ever met
After Bucky introduced you two to each other, you started hanging out
At first you were scared that he might not want to hang out with you, because you were looking so differently than most people, but Steve assured you that he loves the way you look
After spending a lot of time together, you two understood that as different as you thought you would be
The biggest difference between you two is your dressing style, but neither of you minds that
After sometime, you start dating
A lot of cuddles
Sometimes you would do his makeup or give him some clothes so he could look like you
He absolutely loves it, but he still prefers wearing his clothes outside (he’s not ready to wear them outside his house)
Him buying you some clothes/accessories he thibk you would like
Dates in abandoned places
At first Steve was against that idea, because he was afraid of being caught
But then he decided to give a try, he loved it
At first it felt bad, because he was scared someone could see him, so he was careful about doing this and he still is
But besides that, he enjoys this kinds of dates
He tried doing your makeup once or twice, it wasn’t looking so good, it was messy, but you appreciated the fact he tried his best
If drink monster energy or any other kind of energy drinks, he’ll make sure you don’t drink too much, he don’t want you to get hurt
If you would ask him to, he can buy you some energy drinks
Him helping you save money to buy platform boots
If someone makes fun of you being Goth, Steve’s not going to be very nice
He has a thing for your chokers, he probably has a kink, but won’t tell you, a least not until he’s ready to do so
Steve’s favorite part of your looks are accessories, especially rings
Basically he loves you and he’s happy that you’re being yourself
This young girl uses “los,” “las” and the gender-neutral “les” — watch her explain why. —from REMEZCLA on twitter.
to all the cowards who whine “how will i explain it to my kids??” i say: how about you shut up and let your kids explain it to you.
“Ma’am, you don’t have to be a lawyer to defend someone else” wow she snapped
This girl has my undying respect because of this, the courage to stand up to friends and authority at that age to defend the rights of trans is beautiful and worth everyones respect to her
Dutch is a very gendered language, we don’t have many neutral options. So this video inspired me to go digging for a genderneutral option for “meneer” (mister) and “mevrouw” (misses, miss).
I used the website etymologiebank.nl to look up the etymology for the words “meneer” and “mevrouw”, hoping to find a third option like in the video, but alas. It is as straightforward as it seems. “Meneer” comes from “mijn heer” (my lord, distinguished man), and “mevrouw” comes simply from “mijn vrouw” (my woman, distinguished woman). There is no third gramatical gender in Dutch.
So I looked up “neutraal” (neutral), it comes from the latin neutrālis, so it would give us the option of “metralis”, however, compared to our other two it is a syllable too many. “Mealis” would be an option, but is also a name/nickname connected to names like Melissa.
But this did bring me to the word “neutrum” (neuter, gramatically neuter) an old word which has since been replaced with “onzijdig”. “Metrum” would be a cool option, and close to the one used in the video. However, it is also a term in poetry (link in Dutch, metre in English).
This page also said that “generlei” was a gramatically genderneutral term meaning “onzijdig”, and I must say, I love this one. “Generlei” has the suffix -lei, which comes from -leie, meaning “soort” (kind or sort). Gener- comes from “geen” (none). So “generlei” in this context means “of neither sort”. The fun part is that the suffix -lei is used in many other words, like “allerlei” (of all kinds/sorts).
Which brought me to the title “merlei”. It still fits the structure of “meneer” and “mevrouw” and doesn’t seem out of place. And the best part, next to “generlei” (neither sort), we also used to have “enigerlei” (van een of andere soort. Of one or a different kind/sort), “velerlei” (van vele soorten. Of many kinds/sorts), tweeërlei, drieeërlei, etc (van twee, drie soorten etc. Of two, three kinds, etc.)
Which makes “merlei” way more inclusive, because bigender people can use “merlei” as meaning “tweeërlei”, agender people as meaning “generlei”, genderfluid people (such as myself) as meaning “velerlei”, etc.
So, TL;DR: Some Dutch genderneutral options for titles, such as “meneer” and “mevrouw” are “metralis” (from neutral), “maelis” (from neutraal), “metrum” (from neutrum), and “merlei” (from generlei, gramaticaal onzijdig).
