Sir Fruity: the Politics of Age, Language, and Sex-Gender Interpellation
I have a testosterone-rich student who, when he has a question, bellows out, "Sir!". After the 8th or 9th "Sir!" today, he got thoughtful. He bellowed, "Have you ever been called 'Sir' before, Sir? Does anyone else call you 'Sir'?". I said, "Outside of here? Who else *would* call me 'Sir'?". "Well," he contemplatively bellowed, "You look too young to be called 'Sir,' so I don't think anyone would."
Yours truly is regularly mistaken for a student, so I couldn't disagree wtih his logic, but I tried to think of what other context anyone would be called "Sir" anyways, whether they looked old or young. "What if you see someone you know but aren't really stopping to talk to?" I asked, "like if he was just holding the door, and you say, 'thank you, sir' or 'how are you today, sir?'." I used a jaunty tone in which I would address someone like that like that. "That just sounds fruity," he bellowed back. "You should say 'dude' or 'buddy'." He then stopped at looked me, thinking. A rare expression. I wondered if he was deciding whether, in addition to being too young-looking, I was too fruity-looking to be called "Sir." Since I've grown accustomed to being called "Sir," I decided I had better interrupt his slow-but-powerful train of thought. "You can't say 'fruity'," I said, and shuffled hurriedly away.
Yours truly is regularly mistaken for a student, so I couldn't disagree wtih his logic, but I tried to think of what other context anyone would be called "Sir" anyways, whether they looked old or young. "What if you see someone you know but aren't really stopping to talk to?" I asked, "like if he was just holding the door, and you say, 'thank you, sir' or 'how are you today, sir?'." I used a jaunty tone in which I would address someone like that like that. "That just sounds fruity," he bellowed back. "You should say 'dude' or 'buddy'." He then stopped at looked me, thinking. A rare expression. I wondered if he was deciding whether, in addition to being too young-looking, I was too fruity-looking to be called "Sir." Since I've grown accustomed to being called "Sir," I decided I had better interrupt his slow-but-powerful train of thought. "You can't say 'fruity'," I said, and shuffled hurriedly away.