Has anyone else been referred to as they? (not by request)

[Iwishthaticouldbelikethecoolkids]

I briefly met my partner with one of his male colleagues the other day. I have my hair in a bob which is just below the ears as trying to grow it out. I had a summery dress on, I don't wear make up really but I think my look is still fairly feminine, not that it should matter.
Anyway, I left and then the friend apparently started to ask questions about me, but referring to me always as 'they' never as her/she.
I'm not sure if this is something that certain people do nowadays in order to not cause any offence, or if I have a look that seemed to make him question.
It shouldn't matter, I am just intrigued as I've never experienced it before (to my knowledge)

I worry more about the intentions of the person who told you tbh!

Don't question your appearance...you sound lovely by your description x

OP, did your partner refer to you as 'she' when colleague said 'they'?

I use 'they' all the time, I don't see anything wrong with it.

Really? Even when you know the sex of the individual? Why?

Perfectly grammatical Scouse!

Use to always say "they went" instead of "She said", would drive my mum nuts.

Still use it now, as in "what did they want?" When dh gets off phone to his sister.

Sell it's grammatically incorrect for a start. If there's just one person.

Don't scousers also refer to my Dad, my mum instead of dad or mum, when talking to a sibling? I only remember this from Brookside!!

No, but i was asked if I’ve had prostate cancer when on the phone to health insurer, and my other half was asked if hers ever been pregnant when joining the gym. We clearly are a man and a woman, apparently they have to ask everyone now.

Not me but my young adult DC, who is male and has an obviously male first name, in an NHS dental referral letter. They haven't met him and there is absolutely no reason for them to use 'they' instead of the correct 'he'.

If I tell you I find it rude, then that's up to me. You don't get to tell me how I feel

You are very heavily invested in this thread

Just sounds like someone with a bad grasp of grammar!

And us north easterners! Glad.its not just my neck of the woods that are "grammatically incorrect"

Although it's more "me mam" instead of "my mum" I forget its mostly southerners on mumsnet .

Look at Shakespeare. Even he used singular they.

Shakespeare also used "three inch fool" as an insult, are you going to start using that rather than "tosser"?

😅

errrrmmm no! And I would be mightily offended to be called ‘they’ instead of ‘she’. I’m so obviously a female I am she!

I work very hard to refer to everyone as they/them now. Making a mistake on a persons preferred pronouns could be at best insulting and at worst, career suicide.

That's what I'm thinking... begging her into growing her hair maybe?

Using "they" increases the chance of mis-gendering from 50% to 66%.

DS has a shoulder-length bob, and has a pre-teen androdgenous look. People frequently mistake him for a girl. It doesn't take much to correct them. TBH, I'd rather correct a "she" than a clumsy, hedged "they" that's incorrect anyway. Persistant use of "they" can be politically loaded, which an error isn't.

"They" is only used when the sex is unknown, e.g. "What did the doctor say? Did they refer you?" and the sex/ gender tends not to be the priority of the sentence anyway.