The byline for a good essay in The New York Times is “Abraham Josephine Riesman,” tagged as follows:

Mx. Riesman is a journalist and the author of a biography of Vince McMahon.

It’s my first encounter with “Mx.” in The Times, and I wondered how it likes to be said. A video I consulted sounded to my ear like “Mex.” Wikipedia transcribed it with the symbol for the sound of the ‘a’ in “about,” barely a sound at all.

In my dialect “Mr.” is “mister” and “Ms.” is “miz.” I’ve seen “Mrs.” in books as “Missus,” but I sound it as “Mizzes.” (Why was there never “Mrr.” for married men? Mirror and Mizzes Jones.) “Mix” seems inevitable for “Mx.” (Snap. Thomas Hezikiah Mix was an old-timey movie cowboy.)

Parenthetically, I assume “Mx.” can replace “Mr.”, as well, which totally gives id-entity its walking papers. In principle I could be Mx. “N” — and no one the wiser I’m Texan.

Back to the point. I read the essay careless of Abraham Josephine’s orientation. Imagine my surprise at the following:

Abraham Josephine Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) is a journalist and the author of “Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America,” as well as “True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee.” She is on the board of directors of Jewish Currents. [my bolding]

(Abraham Josephine Riesman, “The Best Way to Explain the G.O.P. Is Found in the W.W.E.,” New York Times, 2-26-23)

(c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved