An addition to pronouns

[Bluebellsinbloom41]

First time I've received an email that not only had pronouns listed, but the phonetic way of pronouncing the person's name.

Tbh, probably of more use* than the pronouns.

*Except the name in this case was Calum.

In theory it should help, yes.
But the phonetic spelling is in English and for English speakers, so it does not always help. Ie. the way that a Spanish person would write 'Gabriel' in phonetics might not really help much.
The same could be said for strong English accents

I've had this!! The name was Karen or "kah-run" What is the world coming to!!

Pronounced K-lem-um?

This. And in many cultures it's rude to correct someone who gets it wrong so pre-empting is helpful!

I think it can be useful- some names are tricky to pronounce. Some Irish names for example, I would find it v helpful for. Also international companies, students etc. I think it’s a nice thing.

I think I’ve seen something more useful though where it actually plays out the name with sound.

I don’t do pronouns in email but I would do this. Totally different.

Our place has arranged audio pronunciations of names for people who want them to be attached to their emails. It's not a bad thing really. Some names do not sound how they look.

Although I've also seen some announce their protected characteristics. So if I'm asked, I will be adding protected characteristic: sex to mine. I'm just not ready to rock the boat too much in a new job so early.

Bal-a-kay

I've also seen some announce their protected characteristics.

All of them? Everyone has at least 6 of the 9 protected characteristics under the Equality Act - it would be easier to announce which ones you don't have.

Whenever i see it, i say Pa-thet-ic!

I wonder how you pronounce Stefonknee 🤔

That would be so worth the “little chat with HR”

But the phonetic spelling is in English and for English speakers, so it does not always help. Ie. the way that a Spanish person would write 'Gabriel' in phonetics might not really help much.

That's why you need to use the IPA...

@MistyGreenAndBlue I see what you did there 😂

@MistyGreenAndBlue

Ah yes, I remember them/him/her

I don’t see the point because.. .Google. I work with people from many different cultures, so often don’t know how to pronounce a name. 10 seconds on Google finds you both the phonetic spelling and usually also audio of how to pronounce.

I have only ever met one non-native German speaker who could pronounce my name correctly and I'm sure I have mis-pronounced many names that are from languages that I don't speak, even if I put effort into getting it right. There are some sounds I simply can't make with the best will in the world. I seriously can't get het up about how people say my name, I do sometimes get ever so slightly annoyed if someone I have known for a long time can't be bothered to spell my name correctly.

Oh please share 😂

It's the signatures of Mrs Linda Braithwaite (she/her) that get me.

Ya don't fucking say you're a she/ her with Mrs Linda at the front!

I do find this fawning over pronouns exacerbating as I've a name that can be spelt a couple of different ways and have had to "cope" my whole life with the different versions (often not the correct one) in birthday cards etc.

I like the idea of a pronunciation button.
That could be helpful.

Research shows that in some circumstances using a genderless signature (eg Dr smith) has helped gain better responses in various contexts thanks to how bloody sexist the world is. Emails from males appear to have more impact than females.