We are NOT ‘you guys’

An elderly family friend was in hospital following a stroke. they insisted on calling her 'Connie'. I was puzzled, as she was always, always Marjorie. It turned out her registered first name was indeed Constance but to my knowledge (all my life) she was known by her second name, Marjorie. The stroke affected her speech so she was unable to make herself understood to put them right. Even if she had, I doubt they would have listened. I did tell them, to no avail.

So very sad.

I prefer nurses/etc using my first name than calling me 'sweet heart' - which only has happened in recent months. I must be looking as old and tired as I've felt!

The practice nurse in my doctors surgery always called me Chris, it absolutely infuriated me because its so overfamiliar. Had she any knowledge of me at all she would have known that I have never been know by my first name let alone a shortened version of it!
I never corrected her because I preferred to keep any contact with her on a formal basis - a friendship it was not!
She has retired now thank heavens.

I can live with You Guys but the girl in the newsagents will call me My Lovely, which makes me feel about 90!

I think there are far more horrible things in life to worry about.

I don't mind.
As long as people are friendly and polite I don't care too much.

Iam64, when I was a child neighbours were addressed as 'Auntie Jean' or whatever, I would prefer to be 'Mrs L'...which is what I am. Mind you, the young man who delivered my groceries the other day called me 'my lovely', which did sound nice. He was Welsh I think.

Yep.

Doesn't bother me - our adult granddaughters both refer to us and their parents as you guys - better than 'The Olds'

In Kenya, all women over a certain age are addressed as 'Mama' as a sign of respect. I quite liked that!

Two of our elderly neighbours have died this year. Despite knowing them for over twenty years and their exhortations to call them by their first names, I've never been able to think or speak of them as anything but Mrs K and Mr B. It just seemed wrong to call them anything else.

Yes, Ma'am would do nicely. We British lack a word like madame. When I was working in our African and Kashmiri community, I was almost always called auntieX by adults and children alike.

I recently spoke to a policewoman about anti social behaviour on the train I was on. She addressed me as, "Ma'am". I quite liked it! .

I felt very honoured in Bangladesh to be called 'Auntieji'.

SueD, that's charming.

What do you want the children to call you RosieLeah? I remember calling neighbours Mrs X or if she was friendly with my mum, auntie X. I'm entirely happy with children calling me by my first name. Yesterday I bumped into two young women, one now 35, the other 33 who'd been regular visitors to our home from 3 - mid twenties when they started getting married, having children etc. it was so good to hear one in the car park, the other in the supermarket, call my name, run over and hug me.
If they'd grown up in the fifties as I did, rather than the 80's as they did I'd probably still be Ms X and never had developed the close relationships we did and continue to share

Lessismore here in Scotland people often refer to men as boys. Thinking about it, I think it's mostly men who say it as in 'I took the car to the garage and the boy looked at it.' They can be any age!

I object to being addressed by my first name by complete strangers, especially by children. Where did all this familiarity come from?

Really don’t mind it at all, especially if said with a smile. I’m much more likely to notice the tone of voice or facial expression when someone’s talking to me.

My dad was referred to as a lad when he was well into his 80's.

Lessismore, you need look no further than your name.
Just look at Sara’s post.
No need for the word guys at all. Less is better!

I'm from a north west family and once I've been called 'love' I know I'm back.

I really don't mind.

The other annoying salutation is the one that sometimes appears at the start of a spam post "Hey! blah blah blah . . " Do they think we need to be yelled at with a loud-hailer to get our full attention before they can speak to us?

Don’t mind it all, in fact I use the phrase myself quite often. But I do object to be called Hun or babe!??