Seeing as the Wiki errs on the side of being gender-neutral in writing and tags (Using They/Them, tags such as Fight Attendant not "Stewardess", Police Officer not Policeman or Policewoman, and so on) isn't it a confusing exception to the rule that "waitress" is aliased to waiter rather than both being aliased to something like "waitstaff" or "server"*? It might not be that important as far as tag changes go, but maybe worth discussing?

_{*Server is currently used for computer servers}

Although "waitress" is a female variant of the term, "waiter" comes across as gender-neutral to me. Like "actor" is gender-neutral, despite "actress" being a female variant, or "gay" is gender-neutral, despite "lesbian" being a female variant.

watsit said:
Although "waitress" is a female variant of the term, "waiter" comes across as gender-neutral to me. Like "actor" is gender-neutral, despite "actress" being a female variant, or "gay" is gender-neutral, despite "lesbian" being a female variant.

I would think Steward is also gender neutral.

furrin_gok said:
I would think Steward is also gender neutral.

That's a very general term. "waiter" / "waitstaff" usually has connotations of being at a restaurant or bar, but "steward" can have several more meanings

I have thought that "waitstaff" was more of a plural/group connotation.

There is the rather artificial- and robotic-sounding "waitron", coined to be a non-gender-specific variant that I don't think has caught on anywhere.

Personally, I have never once heard "wait staff"

clawstripe said:
There is the rather artificial- and robotic-sounding "waitron", coined to be a non-gender-specific variant that I don't think has caught on anywhere.

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alexyorim said:
I have thought that "waitstaff" was more of a plural/group connotation.

Which is why it might be a little more appropriate as a tag than "waiter", the more common, the natural singular term would be "server", but that's already used onsite to refer to computer servers. Waitstaff is neutral, it's generic, "waiter" is explicitly male biased (most probably don't refer to a woman waiting tables as "the waiter" without sounding a little awkward), and it doesn't have any visual connotation of something like:

post #1796999

"Waitstaff" is completely descriptive of the field in general, it could be anything from a character acting as a busboy at a five star restaurant, to a waitress at a dingy diner.

strikerman said:
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Spell ICUP

waiters be like: w a i t i n g

azero said:
Spell ICUP

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waiters waiting on weighty people whom get weightier