What word would be the equivalent for sir or ma’am for a person not in the gender norm. I like greeting strangers with it while working retail & have always wondered what would be the right why to respond to someone who did not want to be called either sir or ma’am.
Mx (pronounced “mix”) is the one I hear most common.
I’m also partial to Mage (or Mg.). It’s a shortening of the Latin word “magister,” which means “chief, head, director, teacher.” Magister is the root word from which we get “mister” and “mistress”
Mx sounds awful to me and is the result of people trying to use “x” as gender neutral. Like “Latinx” was controversial, both on its appropriateness of use and its pronunciation.
Mage is cool and I like that it has etymological justification.