Gender not specified

[Gob]

Yesterday I was driving to St Just to get a few items from the shop there. Just where the hamlet road hits the main road was a young person hitchhiking.

Having been a hitchhiker myself when younger, I always try to offer a lift if the person doesn't look to dodgy. Hereabouts we get many young impecunious people, a lot of them students, visiting for the surfing/climbing/social scene or looking for seasonal work, and I've had some great chats, made a few friends even, by offering lifts.

So this person jumps in, and is going to St J to meet up with mates, and we have a great chinwag about the local scene, (they were local,) and some upcoming festivals and gigs they were interested in seeing. I explained that what with me being old, and a curmudgeon,festivals are a long past thing for me. We talked about bands, and the shit winter which seems to be over running into spring here.

I dropped them in the square in St J, and we parted. The conversation had certainly been enjoyable, except for one thing; I wasn't sure if it was a boy or a girl I was addressing. They certainly surfed, were 17 years old, and I know their parents on a "nod in the pub" way.

But I felt awkward not knowing if they were a boy or a girl, or other, let alone which bus they catch. These days with political correctness, and sexual politics, being so volatile I didn't want to put my bloody great foot in it.

How do you ask a stranger when you don't know what sex they are?

[Scooter]

There probably isn't an unawkward way to ask, and what difference does it really make unless you are planning to invite him/her to have sex with you?

[Crackpot]

Ask thier name and hope it’s not Chris or Pat.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Stop at a pub and suggest going to the bathroom together

[Lord Jim]

Here are a couple of questions you could ask them:

"If you tell someone about a problem you're having, do you expect them to actually suggest a possible solution, or are you just venting and looking for a supportive response?"

or:

"If you're upset with someone about something, do you expect them to figure out what's bothering you without you actually telling them?"

[MGMcAnick]

Or just buy them a couple of pints and see which door they go through. (Unless the loos are unisex...)

[Lord Jim]

You could also try asking them how they feel about Meg Ryan movies...

[Joe Guy]

Just say, "Dontcha just hate it when your balls itch?" and wait for a reaction.

[Gob]

"I'm just nipping into the shops, would you mind parking the car for me?"