Pronouns aren't a trend. They're just how you talk to people.

A pronoun is the word people use to refer to you when they're not saying your name — she, he, they, and a handful of others, including newer options like ze/hir. You use them dozens of times a day without noticing, right up until someone's pronoun is different from what you guessed.

Singular "they" gets treated like a modern invention, but it's been part of everyday English for hundreds of years — you've almost certainly used it yourself, saying something like "someone left their umbrella."

You can't reliably tell someone's pronouns from how they look, dress, or sound — yet that's exactly how most of us default to guessing. Sharing pronouns up front, on a name tag or in an introduction, replaces that guesswork with something simple: the person just tells you.

It also quietly signals something bigger — that you're not going to assume someone's identity based on their appearance, which is a courtesy every person deserves, regardless of whether their pronouns turn out to be the ones you expected.

Opening the door for people to share their pronouns doesn't mean everyone has to walk through it. Someone might skip it because they're still figuring things out, because they use pronouns that shift, because the room doesn't feel safe, or simply because it's nobody's business but theirs.

If someone's name tag has no pronouns on it, or they've told you they'd rather not say — the respectful move is to just use their name, and skip pronouns for them entirely until they decide otherwise.

Using the wrong pronoun for someone, on purpose or by accident, is called misgendering. It happens to nearly everyone at some point, including people who care a lot about getting it right. What matters is what you do in the five seconds after.

• Correct yourself quickly, without turning it into a bigger moment than it needs to be. Simply say, "Sorry, they're covering my shift," or just "Thanks, they're covering my shift."
• Keep moving. A long apology puts the other person in the position of comforting you, which isn't their job.
• Don't expect thanks or forgiveness for correcting yourself. Getting it right is the baseline, not a favor.
• If it keeps happening, it's worth practicing on your own time: picture the person and say their pronouns in your head before you see them.

You don't need a policy change to make a difference — a few habits go a long way:

• Add a "pronouns" line under "name" on tags, forms, and video-call display names.
• Teachers: at the start of term, hand out index cards for students to write down their name and pronouns privately, rather than asking everyone to announce it out loud.
• Link this page next to your pronouns, so anyone curious has somewhere to click instead of guessing or asking a stranger to explain.