Hi, I'm writing a story with merfolk and I'm trying to figure out what I would call the non-binary merpeople. I was wondering if you had any thoughts? Currently I'm using mernix (nixxie is a merlike creature in I believe German mythology) but considered merperson, mer, and merson. Sorry if I'm bothering you.
OOOOh, mernix sounds interesting! I’ve actually never heard of a nixxie before, so that could be a really cool way to talk about a nonbinary merperson/merson/mer etc. :O
I may borrow that in the future, if I ever need to have a nonbinary merperson? possibly?
But honestly? I’d say you could use all of those terms, interchangeably, with no inaccuracy whatsoever. The beauty of being nonbinary is that- well, also it’s the curse- It’s not a solid “third category” of gender. It’s a huge umbrella term for every gender that isn’t “man” or “woman.” THUS, all of those terms could be the preferred term to use for a particular group of nonbinary mernix or merpeople - because they’re preferred for varied genders that still fall under the larger “nonbinary” umbrella.
However, for readability’s sake, and to hold true to typical English-language conventions, I’d say - when making general statements about nonbinary merfolk, or a merperson who’s gender is as-of-yet unspecified: Do it like you would for a person IRL, just tag it with the “mer” prefix.
Examples: This group of nonbinary (mer) people. That (mer)person over there. (cat voice: this is my human/mer)
and etc.
However, if you’ve already established the word “mernix” to mean nonbinary merpeople, that’s also fine!! Just be sure to treat it like “merman” and “mermaid” and don’t forget plurals and grammatical constructions using it!
Good luck on your story!!! (and JFKAHSDKJF you’re not bothering me! I’m happy to answer questions like this ^_^)
