4

Hearing the usual greeting on a train, I started wondering if there is already an established alternative to "Ladies and Gentlemen" that is applicable beyond the male/female classification. (For example, job adverts now often include m/w/x to take the third gender into account. Apologies if I used any of the gender related terms not perfectly correctly.)

PS: in response to a comment, let me perhaps restrict the scope to a term that can be used in formal settings.

painfulenglish
  • 2,450
  • 9
    This is so broad as to be difficult to answer. Why not folks, friends, esteemed guests, patrons, y'all, distinguished guests, everybody, Proudfeet, and the tens of other variations? – TaliesinMerlin Mar 27 '19 at 19:10
  • 1
    @TaliesinMerlin I added a PS to restrict the scope. You already provided some excellent alternatives for non-formal occasions. – painfulenglish Mar 27 '19 at 19:14
  • 3
    As TaliesinMerlin suggests, "everybody" and "everyone" would work well in most situations—although they might viewed as tending to exclude disembodied personages and conjoined twins. – Sven Yargs Mar 27 '19 at 19:17
  • @SvenYargs This site is worth every minute of my time even for the humour alone! – painfulenglish Mar 27 '19 at 19:19
  • 2
    Just say "Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else." After all not all the females in the crowd are ladies, and not all the males in the crowd are gentlemen. (Remember the Three Stooges shtick -- Someone says "Gentlemen!" One of the Stooges replies "Who came in?") – Hot Licks Mar 27 '19 at 19:51
  • 1
    Where are you that job adverts mention gender at all? That may affect the answers that will work for you. I'm only familiar with it from Germany, where it's a consequence of inclusive policies combined with linguistic gender but carries over into English. – Chris H Mar 27 '19 at 19:59
  • Also the setting would have to be really formal for something like "good evening everyone" to be out of place – Chris H Mar 27 '19 at 20:00
  • 1
    I see know reason for assuming that none of the word or phrases used in the first comment would be unacceptable in formal use. In particular, I'd say that esteemed guests is very formal. – Jason Bassford Mar 28 '19 at 02:34
  • Since asking this question, I noticed that many English speakers (for example, politicians) actually use "everyone". However, here in Germany, people tend to translate and use "Ladies and Gentlemen" (train announcements, public events). – painfulenglish Apr 28 '19 at 08:31
  • It used to be a joke to start an announcement with "Ladies, Gentlemen and others", the joke being that Ladies and Gentlemen are both terms of respect, with the implication that there are others who are not respected. In extreme versions: "Ladies, Gentlemen and Bob". – DJClayworth May 28 '19 at 18:06
  • In the science fiction Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, Ladies, Gentlemen and Honorable Herms is sometimes used, because hermaphrodites are common in one of the societies in her universe. – ab2 May 28 '19 at 21:18
  • For practical solutions, there were some excellent suggestions on https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/180313/what-is-a-nice-phrase-to-use-instead-of-ladies-and-gentlemen-to-be-more-inclus – Clumsy cat Dec 20 '21 at 16:14

3 Answers3

11

You can use everyone, which is what the London Underground now uses:

Underground staff have been instructed to begin their announcements with phrases like, “Hello, everyone” and “Good morning everyone.” The transit organization Transport for London (TfL) writes that “Ladies and Gentlemen” has also been scrapped from pre-recorded announcements.

Mark Evers, director of customer strategy at TfL, says in a statement that the change was made because the organization wants "everyone to feel welcome on our transport network.”

Community
  • 1
Laurel
  • 66,382
  • Yes. The Japanese use the term minasan - (everyone). They also have the single term "san" which covers Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms etc. In many respects Japan is seen as a misogynistic society, but gender terms are so neutral as to be an inconvenience. – WS2 May 28 '19 at 21:36
  • NS (Dutch Railways) use "dear travellers". – SQB Jul 10 '20 at 20:09
8

"Ladies and gentlemen" is a phatic expression, that is:

communication which serves a social function, such as social pleasantries that don't seek or offer any information of value.

If you're going to cut hairs on even that phrase, then you should be saying

Ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls and teen and preteens and elders and babies and deceased and conceived and...

But we all have things to do with our lives. So we just say "ladies and gentlemen." (Now, people who don't have things to do might wonder about that expression and why it isn't more "inclusive," but I digress...)

As to the context of your question, if it were on a train, the announcer could simply say, "Attention passengers."

Boom, done. Next.

Carly
  • 2,797
1

It's possible to say "ladies, gentlemen, and between/beyond" if you want to still use the phrase and be inclusive.

user346449
  • 45