Mx. , commonly pronounced "mix," has increased in popularity in recent years as more individuals publicly and openly identify as transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary – and reject the notion that there are only two alternatives, male and female. It may appear in lists of slang words that have entered the English language since 1945 because it began to be used by a small but influential group of people around 1970. The earliest documented use of MX as an acronym was on a trans bulletin board system in 1989. It first appeared in print in a book published in 1992 by Susan Stryker and Rea Carey with the explanation that it stood for "mixed-sex bathrooms." Since then, it has become common practice among members of the trans community to abbreviate their names using all letters except X. This is also done with the first letter of the last name followed by the abbreviation of the first name or initials. So, for example, if someone's full name is Michael John Smith, they might write MIchael instead of Mss. , john instead of Mr. , smith instead of fred at work. The aim is to make it easier to communicate about oneself over the internet when many identities are involved. The trend towards shorter forms of address has spread beyond the world of technology and trans communities across the globe.