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UK - Train firm apologise for "ladies and gentlemen" announcement

Gosh, certainly someone wouldn't weild an identifier ("teen") as a way to diminish the person's credibility or validity!
 
I am only going by what we know.

What we know is the company said this



If you have some evidence it is a company wide change, I will of course go with that.

In the interim, at least the non binary person won't feel so deeply persecuted.

Unless they have to get a different train one day.

And assuming they identify as a person.

See, this is you cherry-picking the article you yourself posted, to take something out of context, in order to feign ignorance, in order to keep arguing in bad faith. And you wonder why people don't take you seriously.
 
See, this is you cherry-picking the article you yourself posted, to take something out of context, in order to feign ignorance, in order to keep arguing in bad faith. And you wonder why people don't take you seriously.

Of all the things in my life I have wondered about, people taking me seriously ain't one of them.

And that is the only company words on what they are doing to help this poor, tormented persons anguish that I have seen.
 
Of all the things in my life I have wondered about, people taking me seriously ain't one of them.



And that is the only company words on what they are doing to help this poor, tormented persons anguish that I have seen.
When you go to the grocery store, do you participate in the transaction like most or do you make up your own routine on the spot and ignore the cashier's corrections?

You want to be taken seriously.

Sometimes, though, you want to project an idea of yourself as independent of any external social influences. That way you signal (what you think is) strength in contrast to the "tormented" people who dare complain about things (it should be noted "complain" does not include complaining about this policy change, however).

Imagine all you want.

But when you're done, please just put your goods on the conveyor belt, pay for them, put the bags in your cart, and shuffle off.
 
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I've taken to saying "Hi friends!"


It's really not all that difficult, is it? Unless one is either closed-minded, reactionary, or flat-out transphobic.

Approximately three seconds of thinking led me to a few possible suggestions for rail announcements:

"Good afternoon to all those travelling with us today".

"Good afternoon to everyone with us today"

"Good afternoon to all the passengers on our train"

"Good afternoon to you, our valued passengers"


(And that's without adding my agreement to those who've pointed out that the phrase "ladies and gentlemen" is clumsy, archaic and even somewhat patronising in 2021. The rail company in question really should have been doing better already, even before taking into account the diversity of 21st Century genders.)
 
Comparing slavery to some person uber offended their made up trendy personal feelings weren't included on a public tannoy in front of hundreds of complete strangers, who don't and probably don't particularly want to know them.

That is a new level of odd, even for here.

:boggled:


Wow.

That is, regrettably, not a new level of denial of transgender (inc nonbinary) identity, even for here.
 
Why does the crowd have to be directly addressed anyway?

"Bing bong. The next train on platform 3 will be..."


It was an on-train announcement, welcoming everyone on board (and presumably listing the stops, plus any safety/convenience matters)
 
Because...

No, you know what? **** that.

You're a cishet white male and you have absolutely no right to suggest that your experiences are in any way comparable to those of a community of people who have been on the receiving end of systematic discrimination, had their identities erased, been told that they don't exist or are wrong about their experience. You comparing your experience to theirs - and using it as an argument for why you should be able to continue your discrimination and erasure - isn't just fallacious, it's a direct and deliberate insult, and you know it.

Silence helps the oppressor. I'm calling you out, cullennz.


Hear, hear. With an extra huge dollop of "couldn't have put it better myself" whipped cream on top.
 
But the situation didn't call for any apology whatsoever and none should have been offered. First, because there was absolutely zero intent to offend or hurt anyone's feelings and secondly, because no sane, rational person would have been offended or made uncomfortable by that announcement in the first place.
False, unnecessary apologies cheapen the concept of contrition and forgiveness.


You were doing so well until you got to this part, then it all went rather wrong, didn't it?
 
Perhaps they could stop using that announcement, and start using..

"Ladies, Gentlemen, Pangenders, Transgenders, Non-binarys, Agenders, Androgynes, Gender Nonconformists, Gender Questioners, Bi-genders, Gender Fluidals, Gender Variants, Neutrois, Genderqueers, Two-Spirits and others (apologies to anyone we missed)........."

What a humourless, banal, emotionally sterile world are living in now.


Ah excellent. Preposterous over-exaggeration, presumably in an attempt to make/prove a point.

How about something like "Good afternoon to all those travelling on our rail service today"?

See: that wasn't too hard, was it? Short, to the point, pleasant, and properly inclusive.
 

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