You generally shouldn’t call people eggs, not only because it could scare them away from self discovery, but because only they themselves can define their gender. Calling someone an egg is essentially invalidating their gender, and regardless of context that shouldn’t be taken lightly. This “egg prime directive” is a good rule of thumb, but like the real prime directive, it’s not absolute and is often misunderstood. It’s less about protecting them from difficult ideas, and more about protecting them from you. You can easily mess things up and push people further into the closet, or you can simply be wrong about them being trans.

On the other hand, that doesn’t mean non-intervention is the right call, nor does it mean you can never tell them what you really think. Eggs almost always need knowledge about being trans, and sometimes they even need a more direct push. However, you can never decide for them; they always need to define themselves in the end.

edit: essentially, you can’t call someone an egg until they’re no longer an egg. It’s the egg paradox