Women or "Ladies"
Thanks Lisa and Michelle.
In response to Lisa's column, Dec. 15th of last month and "Sugar and Spice"....
Everywhere I go, adult females are rarely called women....they're "ladies" and myself, I cringe when I hear the term. Ladies, as defined in the Oxford Canadian dictionary, Katherine Barber, editor-in-chief, is a socially acceptable behaviour, while woman is defined as...an adult female. There is then, a definite difference between calling an adult female a woman over a lady. There's a feeling of less than equality with this term.. I wonder even if people who refer to women as ladies, know the difference between the two words or...would a woman herself, say that "I never thought of it that way before!"
I've been indirectly referred to as a lady, girl and "guy" which is as generic as mankind in a patriarchal way. Tell someone you're a woman and they look at you like you're speaking in a strange language.
I wish we lived in a much more socially equal society.
[img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]
I rarely if ever use the term ladies and I dislike being called 'lady' by anyone. It grates on me just the same way Ma'am does. I am quite proud to cal myself a woman and I feel downright silly referring to myself as a girl.
Women over ladies any day. [img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img]
Hi CarolMariane. And for those who might have missed it, [url=http://www.rabble.ca/in_her_own_words.shtml?x=55361] here's [/url] Lisa's column.
quote:
Originally posted by Stargazer:
[b]I rarely if ever use the term ladies and I dislike being called 'lady' by anyone. It grates on me just the same way Ma'am does. I am quite proud to cal myself a woman and I feel downright silly referring to myself as a girl.[/b]
When a stranger addresses you directly, how do you prefer to be addressed?
[LIST][*]Excuse me, ma'am, I think this pen belongs to you.[*]Excuse me, lady, I think this pen belongs to you.[*]Excuse me, woman, I think this pen belongs to you.[*]Excuse me, ___?___...[/LIST]
Well, there's always "Excuse me, I think this is your pen." But "excuse me, woman . . ." does not exactly come trippingly to the tongue.
This topic seems better suited to the [url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum&f=31]rabble news[/url] forum so I'm going to move it there!