MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ too gender-biased for London's public transport
London Mayor Sadiq Khan looks to scrap the traditional “Ladies and Gentlemen” announcement on trains and buses and replace it with a gender neutral phrasing following complaints from a transgender woman who was mocked as she ‘didn't sound like a Miss’. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesComrades...?
Dec 09th, 2016 - 05:57 pm - Link - Report abuse -4A bit confusing...it was a transgender woman...
Dec 09th, 2016 - 06:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It was a woman who was putting on a deep voice..to sound like a guy...?
A woman that used to be a guy and is stuck with the voice and calls him/herself Aimee...?
So she was expecting to be referred to as a lady and is upset because she wasn't...?
Or she is upset that 99.9% of the population are referred to as ladies and gentlemen and don't mind...?
We could be called Humans,
Dec 09th, 2016 - 08:40 pm - Link - Report abuse +2but on the other hand, the [ man ] bit would be offensive to someone somewhere somehow.
I wonder if they might adopt one of those pleasantries gleaned from a Hollywood epic dealing with a gunnery-sergeant's introductory greeting, along the lines of “Awright you maggots, listen up...”
Dec 09th, 2016 - 09:48 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Is not “maggot” gender-neutral?
Future historians will mock out misplaced obsession with the minutia of identity politics while the hoards of Islamic extremists are knocking down the front door.
Dec 10th, 2016 - 03:54 pm - Link - Report abuse +2How utterly ridiculous.
Dec 10th, 2016 - 04:43 pm - Link - Report abuse +2What about “Ladies and gentlemen and gays and lesbians and transgender males and transgender females and and unwashed trash and dogowners and ... sorry, but while I spent time being hypocritical correct, your train left you behind.”
Why not 'passengers' or 'customers'?
Dec 10th, 2016 - 07:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0your train left you behind
Dec 10th, 2016 - 08:12 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Something millions of passengers experience every day..
@Pytangua. Really? I think you'll find that the word is “hordes”.
Dec 11th, 2016 - 08:01 am - Link - Report abuse +1But, seriously, has this “man” nothing better to do? As for the transgender “thing” and its like, it's about time it got over itself. Why have we accepted “Ladies and Gentlemen” for years when it should have been “Ladies, Gentlemen and Children”. Might it have been a misnomer to refer to some groups to refer to them as ladies or gentlemen? “Ladies, whores, gentlemen, male dregs, male and female children”? Then, at the appropriate time, we could have added in “black, brown, coloured and tanned”. If we preface an announcement with “good morning, afternoon, evening”, will someone find a cause for complaint?
So, perhaps the easiest way is to go without the announcements. After all, there are electronic boards to show destinations etc and maps. And, after all, at some times of the day there may be hardly anyone on the platform. How seriously would a complaint be taken if there was just the one male on the platform? Who might be affronted at being addressed with the word “ladies”.
Incidentally, what's with the “LBTGQ” community? Only 21 letters to go and they'll “own” the whole aphabet. Should we start making preparations to address people as “punctuation marks”?
Is that why the 'people” elected Khan ? to change the rules because 1 person is offended ? has he nothing more important to do ? why do these 'sensitive' people (can I call them 'people', or is that offensive ?), if they don't want to be singled out as being 'different', or whatever the 'politically correct' term is, why make such a fuss and attract so much attention ? Maybe the solution is to scrap the announcements altogether, as suggested by Conqueror, but then the illiterate would be offended...
Dec 11th, 2016 - 06:32 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Ridiculous political correctness. Absolutely nothing wrong with the age-old and very polite way of referring to men and women - and the vast majority of both men and women are either male or female.
Dec 11th, 2016 - 06:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Does this mean then, that all bibles and other religious things , history custom
Dec 11th, 2016 - 08:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0and most importantly Adam and Eve , will all be re-written in favour of a tiny weeny minority,
respect them all, but changing the human way of life is a step to far,
just my humble opinion, no insults intended.
The world changes even while old men sit around and chatter about how they don't understand it.
Dec 13th, 2016 - 07:15 pm - Link - Report abuse -1@Skip
Dec 14th, 2016 - 05:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Other than your opinion on old men, which is quite infantile, why should the vast majority of people be obliged to change their ways just so that minorities can pretend they are no longer offended ?
Seems the progressives want to rewrite the history of mankind, and wipe out the notion that the male and female sexes have ever existed ....Don't see why we should accept these ridiculous impositions, just like the student union at Oxford University telling students that they must refrain from using 'he' or 'she', in favour of the gender-neutral pronoun 'ze'....when is this crap going to stop ?
Jack Bauer
Dec 14th, 2016 - 06:55 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Totally agree.
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