I've been wondering about this off and on since I became high enough rank to teach in tae kwon do. In most other situations, I find the use of "sir" or "ma'am" frivolous and annoying, but there are parts of tkd class where students are expected to say, "Yes, sir" or "yes, ma'am" that I find very useful. Since the instructor who teaches most often is male, 30% of the time that I'm teaching, a student will reflexively say, "Yes, sir." I don't really mind. After all, I just wanted to get an "I'm paying attention" noise out of them. But then they'll go, "Err, umm, yes, ma'am." That I sort of mind.
Part of me wants to just tell them to switch to only "yes, sir" so they don't waste time thinking about genders. But the rest of me asks, "Why does sir deserve to be the default more than the female option?" so I ignore the idea and move on. (Also, I don't know if the other female instructor would dislike being called "sir".) If I hang around long enough I may get to be called kyosanim (like sensei, but korean). But that's much too long of a word to be quickly barked as an "I'm paying attention" noise.
I guess it would be nice to have an "I'm paying attention" noise that didn't directly address the person giving instructions at all. If they're already following my instructions, I don't need an extra word in there implying some sort of subservience. But I'm at a loss for another good 2 or 3 syllable response, and I'm not sure I'd want to take on the burden of getting it into use by the club anyway.
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regna
making gendered words neutral
Date: 2011-07-29 03:47 pm (UTC)Part of me wants to just tell them to switch to only "yes, sir" so they don't waste time thinking about genders. But the rest of me asks, "Why does sir deserve to be the default more than the female option?" so I ignore the idea and move on. (Also, I don't know if the other female instructor would dislike being called "sir".) If I hang around long enough I may get to be called kyosanim (like sensei, but korean). But that's much too long of a word to be quickly barked as an "I'm paying attention" noise.
I guess it would be nice to have an "I'm paying attention" noise that didn't directly address the person giving instructions at all. If they're already following my instructions, I don't need an extra word in there implying some sort of subservience. But I'm at a loss for another good 2 or 3 syllable response, and I'm not sure I'd want to take on the burden of getting it into use by the club anyway.