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The Future...

edited March 2017 in Writing
Other than Mr and Mrs, can you think of a way of addressing someone in futuristic times?

Comments

  • I don't understand the question.
  • Person.

    Being.
  • I still don't understand the question. Mr and Mrs isn't a future term - unless you're adressing an engaged couple?
  • In a story set in the future I don't want one character addressing a couple as 'Mr' and 'Mrs' X. I like 'Citizen', but I would still like somehow to differentiate between the sexes.
  • Ah.

    I think differenciating between the sexes would be unlikely if a new term were devised. Something which allowed for same sex marriage seems more likely.
  • Yes, that would be the ideal. I just have a business-like conversation going between three people and I somehow want to show that two of them are a male/female couple. If the third participant addresses them in the same way, then it might be confusing as there are no physical details mentioned.

    Maybe I could adapt Citizen.

    Citizenda?
  • You need a logic for 'da' - readers need a logic to even fictional terms, otherwise they are distracted. I can't tell you how painful it is to read a book where the author has created names and words without any thought to logic.

    That's what I'm doing today. It's painful. :-((
  • That's why I can't usually cope with dystopian/sci-fi stories - too much to take in. It's like learning another language!

    To me, that new made-up word feminised it, but perhaps I am too close to the story. I have used it in the context of 'she' which I hope makes the distinction clear between the female and her partner. I have also avoided the terms husband and wife. I haven't invented any other words!

    The story is more or less finished. I am editing, making it sound convincing as an event set in the future.

    I have opened a can of worms.
  • Why would new words be invented for exactly the same thing?
  • Would they be exactly the same thing if they existed in another world?
  • No. I rashly assumed TN meant a future version of this one.
  • Why would new words be invented for exactly the same thing?
    Same world, but a looong way into the future. I think 'Mr and Mrs' will sound archaic in my story, especially so as, in the world I have created, birth and death are dealt with completely differently and partnerships are now outside the (long outdated) boundary of marriage.

  • I think along time into the future it will be accepted that gender is a scale and that everyone should therefore be addressed in a gender neutral pronoun or by their name. If so then in the whole story it would have to be insignificant
  • Tricky as I want a degree of formality for a business transaction.
  • When even the bank use my first name these days, using their names ought to work. You could always call them Sir and Madam, or go all Russian and use both first and second names.
  • But Lizy, far into the future in a gender unspecific place, names may be difficult to assign a gender to.

    for instance people are already calling their kids things like River and Rowan and Sky - you can't tell what gender they are. We know a male and a female Rowan.

    I am looking forward to seeing how you come up with a solution to this, Nell! I bet you will, you inventive you.
  • I have actually time-travelled to 2167. On arrival I noted the main race as androgynous. As Liz just identified, many shared the same name. As for formalities, in the home the form of address was: Mo for male and Ma for female. In the business arena the formality was So for male and Sa for female. When trying to identify the etymology of these words, I was advised that the form was adopted for simplicity with the root dating back to the Spanish and European form of 'a' for female and 'o' for male. I hope this helps. O:-)
  • It's always great to know someone who has time-travelled. Thanks, PET, for the insight!

    I tried Citizenza, but it was a bit of a mouthful.

    I have overcome the problem by re-wording it slightly. Only one of them is now directly addressed by name, and I have used 'Citizen'; thanks, Baggy. Other than that, they are referred to mostly as 'the male' and 'the female'.
  • It's always great to know someone who has time-travelled. Thanks, PET, for the insight!

    I tried Citizenza, but it was a bit of a mouthful.

    I have overcome the problem by re-wording it slightly. Only one of them is now directly addressed by name, and I have used 'Citizen'; thanks, Baggy. Other than that, they are referred to mostly as 'the male' and 'the female'.
  • Ah, yes. Two-Post Sunday...
  • Isn't that Tuesday?
  • This whole conversation makes my brain sore.
  • There, there, Datco. It's all over now...
  • How can it be? We're talking about the future.
  • Greetings, denizens.
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