Halifax...

[MummBRaaarrrTheEverLeaking]

twitter.com/HalifaxBank/status/1541692892175110146?t=6PoJxoXZAUwWHmXRZdtsxw&s=19

Getting their arses handed to them in the comments, it's rather heartening to see that people have really had enough of this.

twitter.com/HalifaxBank/status/1541786073302433792?t=E_xpGMHqPNolZkP145kPSQ&s=19

Although AndyM here is prepared to defend it to the hilt by actively encouraging customers to close their accounts 😬

Awkward conversation with management about the goal being bringing in customers and not telling them to bugger off for Andy in the office tomorrow perhaps!

Oohh just had a look at nationwide. Loving the full switch idea. And the cash incentive.

Yes it is! And causing something of a stir!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/29/close-accounts-dont-like-pronoun-badges-halifax-tells-critical/

It currently has over three thousand comments, which I've never seen before - generally I consider five hundred comments quite a lot.

This is the 'Most Liked' comment -
Switched my account to HSBC and they give you a £170. It’s not a ‘people thing’, it’s a money thing- you’re a bank, not the thought police.

1000 comments on the times article. Only 1 saying enforced pronouns was fine (by a male commenter)

BOS share price is falling.

Probably just coincidence but it will be interesting to see what it is tomorrow.

As for the Facebook comments "being kind", well mine disappeared......
I only mentioned neopronouns.

Halifax. Gatekeeping bigots

Oh of course, I’d forgotten they could delete comments on FB! Doh! That might explain it right enough.

No merely that he wants to be off his head on drugs

It's in today's edition too and comments are up to almost 1,500 before breakfast

Oh I'm going to enjoy watching this one.

This really will be a case study, won’t it?

Just been browsing the Times comments while waiting for a train. So many people who are just sick of having gender woo shoved down their throats.

Its one of those areas which large companies really need to think about. They are rejecting their core business to try win publicly.

mobile.twitter.com/moleatthedoor/status/1542120571428798465?cxt=HHwWgoCwzaef2-YqAAAA

The idea that a company can make a PR claim and tell customers or potential customers to not stop doing business with them is madness.

Trying to use Identity politics is never going to end well. The business becomes a hostage to an ideology. Similar when the TRA accounts start demanding that a company unfollow someone that they chose to follow (which is a commercial decision for a company). The TRA claims the named, identifiable person"s account (usually a woman) is transphobic and the big company makes a public statement as they respond and unfollow. Which is corporate bullying but the person won't usually have the resources to get/force an apology.
Andy appears to have been a little more reserved than that but the aim is to get business and positive PR.

The bank have forgotten that their core function is transactional relationship. Nobody would engage with a bank unless they need somewhere safe to store their money or access to a loan. The bank will not engage with any customer where there is no chance of making a profit.

So a bank preaching on about the "right thing" is never going end well.

The idea that a company can make a PR claim and tell customers or potential customers to not stop doing business with them is madness.

Trying to use Identity politics is never not going to end well.

Why do i never see the mistake until after i post it?🙃

1.9 thousand comments on the times article.

Sol I love that, I will now use fee/foe/farce

I could get behind the idea of ‘pronoun-ced’ badges too.

If ever forced, I shall do that to my badge (and blame my short sight and mild hearing loss).

The pronunciation thing is already a thing. I've seen it in email signatures. So far only from people called names like "Emma".

What I'm unclear about is whether the phonetically spelled pronunciation only works if the person reading it speaks English. ie is it for the benefit of English people reading non English names? Or is it for the benefit of people with English as a 2nd language reading any variety of names? If the latter, does the phonetic spelling hold up across different languages?

@FunnyTalks the alphabet we use (Latin) was originally a phonetic alphabet, and is generally pronounced the same across most languages with a few tweaks here and there. Languages that use different alphabets (like Russian, Greek) nearly always have a way of mapping into our alphabet phonetically that is well understood (technically called transliteration). The key is to write the pronounciation in an unambiguous way that most people with some familiarity with English can interpret and get roughly right.

For example sian -> sh-awn, amit -> ah-mit or aim-it, simon -> si-mon or see-mon (French pronunciation)

We write our name in the nearest approximation to something that English speakers can pronounce. The original is in a different script/alphabet. We are quite happy with that given that we live in a country that uses the Latin alphabet. It would be unreasonable to expect anything else.

2 thousand 200 comments now.

I wonder how many accounts have been closed.
And I wonder if their social media team has had a restructure.

I think the number of people who have actually closed accounts will be very close to zero. It’s a huge faff to do, very easy to say.

Apart from anything else, pronouns were initiated by a small group of people as a subversive gesture. They were fashionable. It’s all very well to get all your mates at school doing it, your student union, your professors and whoever else in your bubble, but surely there’s no damp squib in the middle of a sub-culture like your bank manager doing it. It must be like being one of Led Zeppelin’s early fans and then bumping into your boss backstage at a concert.

It's missing "herself"!