Young Lady

[iheartschnickle]

Today on the metro I sat next to a man who seemed to be in his 50s. His stop was one before mine, and as we pulled into it (car still moving, not stopped eyt), he said, "Young lady, this is my stop

Comments

[beatlemania78]

I would prefer a "young lady" to a "ma'am" any day. My American liguistic fave is "miss" though. Looooved being called "miss" in NYC all the time!

[iheartschnickle]

While no longer accurate (a Miss being unmarried), I am quite alright with Miss. Actually, I don't really mind ma'am anymore, either.

[bzoppa]

Actually, I don't really mind ma'am anymore, either.

:O I find ma'am offensive. Tricia said she called me "a woman" she shoots darts with in DC and I was offended. Well, a lot of what she did offended me, but that's a different topic.

I don't mind young lady, especially as two of my crushes in the past month have yet to pass the 20-year-old mark.

[swankyfunk]

I don't find "ma'am" offensive in the strictest sense of the word, but whenever I hear it I want to say, "Do I look like a 'ma'am'?" I certainly don't feel like one. I also find it weird to be called a "woman," yet I don't necessarily want to be called a "girl" either. Wtf. I have issues.

Holy Quotation Marks Batman!

[iheartschnickle]

Ditto. I don't feel right referring to someone our age as a "girl", yet "woman" doesn't feel right either. I suppose I will just make it gender neutral and say "person". Or I could say "chick"?

And I ALWAYS use "guy" instead of "man". Because "men" are my dad's age.

[iheartschnickle]

BTW, didn't realize that "miss" was an Americanism. Interesting.

[beatlemania78]

My sister was a teacher in NYC for two years and I couldn't get over how her students would call her "Miss" as in "Miss, can I go to the bathroom?" or in a clothing store they'd say "you can step down, Miss".

In my neck of the woods, they'd just say "Ms Smith, can I..." no shortening or "excuse me ma'am..." Never "miss" which is probably why I hate "ma'am". Could be a westcoast/eastcoast thing but I was never "Miss"ed during my short visit in Toronto...

[iheartschnickle]

In a store, totally use Miss. But in a classroom? We'd say Miss Smith...and use Miss whether the person was a Mrs. or Ms.

Also, the further South you go in the US, the more you'll have children refer to adults as Miss/Mr. First Name, rather than Mrs./Mr. Last Name.

[beatlemania78]

I'd like to see the return of Madame/Madam since that's where ma'am started isn't it? And madamoiselle...le sigh. Perhaps I should move east to Quebec...

Only a cute man in a uniform gets to call me "ma'am" and get away without my snarky face;)

[iheartschnickle]

Ooh, I could totally be a Madame! Only in English it's Madam and then it sounds like I run a whore house...so ok, maybe not.