Them/they What does it mean?

Let's see -- "Hi, I'm Norah, I don't seem to have your name."

"How are you today?" [Thanks I'm well too."]

"Ahhh, could you spell that for me?" [Thank you, abc name.]

LisaAN

Does it actually hurt to refer to a non binary person as they/them? My GD has a couple of non binary friends and I have no trouble referring to them by their preferred pronouns.

I agree. I have a couple of friends who have non-binary children and I have no problem with that either.

The nominative singular neuter pronoun in English is it, not they.

"they" is the subject pronoun. "them" is the object pronoun; used as the object of a verb or preposition. Therefore you could assume that they're not a person at all and you'd be perfectly correct using the address "it".

Does it actually hurt to refer to a non binary person as they/them? My GD has a couple of non binary friends and I have no trouble referring to them by their preferred pronouns.

It is like asking me to say the earth is flat. I find it deeply harmful.

Presumably she has put her name on the letter alongside her name. Call her by her name.

Exactly*All sorts*

I wouldn't be inviting her for interview. You are she or he, its like the Emperors New Clothes.

You don't know that it is a young woman.
Whatever it is , it is not plural.

charley68

Thinking about this makes me very cross. Especially that young girls and women are giving away the rights that so many women throughout the years have fought for.

It also probably means that the young woman/person does not care about women's single sex spaces, such as in hospitals, sports, prisons, rape crisis centres, justice - with rapists being called 'she/her' in court by the justice system, reporting media and so on ad nauseam until my head feels it will explode.

I have been watching the Supreme Court online today via my laptop, and some of the questions that the SC judges asked the barristers were gob smacking.

You haven't even met this young person - why make these assumptions? Loading an awful lot on someone saying they dont care about this or that.

Referring to someone as they doesn't harm anything, as daft as I think it is.

Another nugget.
The 'Women's Footballer of the Year' for the BBC this year is a player who was removed from the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations due to sex eligibility rules (raised T).

Why bother calling it women's football/sport any longer?

Sago

It means the person in question is non binary.
They wish to be addressed as them/they.

I have an opinion on this but I am keeping my fingers off the keyboard.

Sago, she/her FFS!

You address someone in the second person ' YOU and you refer to them in the third person - he/him, she/her and now if by choice, they/them which is also correct for the plural or unspecified gender.

Thinking about this makes me very cross. Especially that young girls and women are giving away the rights that so many women throughout the years have fought for.

It also probably means that the young woman/person does not care about women's single sex spaces, such as in hospitals, sports, prisons, rape crisis centres, justice - with rapists being called 'she/her' in court by the justice system, reporting media and so on ad nauseam until my head feels it will explode.

I have been watching the Supreme Court online today via my laptop, and some of the questions that the SC judges asked the barristers were gob smacking.

More total nonsense.

I would address her as you think fit, not what she decides. She presumably identifies as a woman, but perhaps not.

Sago

It means the person in question is non binary.
They wish to be addressed as them/they.

I have an opinion on this but I am keeping my fingers off the keyboard.

Sago, she/her FFS!

How can you address anyone as they/them?
Refer to them, yes.

I wouldn’t worry about the pronoun unless you usually call people him, her, he, she when you’re talking face to face.

You can just say hello or good afternoon or good morning. Usually people doing the interview introduce themselves, but you don’t need to repeat the name.

Good luck.

Exactly, they identify as non-binary and use the pronouns they/them instead of he/him or she/her. Simply ask them how they would prefer you to address them.

It means the person in question is non binary.
They wish to be addressed as them/they.

I have an opinion on this but I am keeping my fingers off the keyboard.

Sago, she/her FFS!

It means she doesn't want her gender (or is it sex?) assumed.
I assume...

ask how they wish to be addressed..

Yes. That's what I'd do.

You can ask her how she would like to be called when you meet.