Huff

A friend of mine born male started living as a woman around 2001. She retained her surname, but changed one of her given names to 'Ariel'. When she told me, I asked,

"Oh, like Ariel Sharon?"

"No!" she snapped, "Like Ariel the Little Mermaid!"

She seemed furious. I'd committed a faux pas. But since I didn't understand its nature, I didn't know how to apologise.

I later came to understand that Australia's transgender community regards Disney's The Little Mermaid as an icon of personal transformation. That seems reasonable enough, but it still doesn't strike me as the sort of thing that I should have to know to avoid making social errors.