Calling adult sisters 'the girls'

We still call our dds, 41 and 43, the girls, and so do other family members. I really don’t think ‘the girls’ give a hoot.

Dh’s old aunt, at 80+, was still referring to her bridge-playing cronies of similar ages, as ‘the girls’.

I loathe the phrases "the girls" and "the boys" once people are adults.
It's both lazy and ridiculous in my opinion.

I'm sure I would just have laughed it off if my sisters and I had been referred to as 'the girls'. Maybe that's what my parents would have called us in private between themselves but never to our faces. I'm afraid I do call my two sons (48 and 50) 'the boys' and my GC are 'the girls' and 'the boys'. Nobody has complained or commented.

I have two daughters but haver never called them the girls. I have always used their names. I also have two grand-daughters
and always call them by their names and do not say the girls.

One of my daughters will say I am taking the girls out meaning her two nieces. The "girls" have a younger brother but she rarely takes him telling me it is so much nicer to go off with the girls.

I must admit my cousin has three boys and always refers to them as "my boys" while her husband looks on saying yes and I'll be glad once they all move out.

I've got a WhatsApp group with my friends called 'The girls' and we always have ' a girls' night out' too. We're all mid 60s but I can't see anything wrong with it.

Can't see the problem, my first thought was that's a bit childish?

My sons and grandsons are my 'boys' and daughters and granddaughters are my 'girls'.

They all refer to each other by name.

My to daughters will always be ' the girls' to me !

My son has 3 sisters and yes he calls them 'the sisters' has done so ce he was small

We call our next door neighbours 'our girls' and they sometimes call us auntie .... and uncle ...., and if they're feeling particularly cheeky GM and GD.

If it bothers them that much Beswitched why don't they say or have they and their feelings are being ignored?

My brother has been known to refer to my 3 sisters when talking to me as The Others ! Sounds a bit ? spooky

nanna8

Ooh I’d be delighted and flattered personally. Those were the days ….

My parents always referred to their three daughters as 'the girls' when referring to all of us. We trained them up to it when we were in our early teens because we hated being referred to as 'the children'.

It never bothered us. A friend with sons, always talks about her boys, even though they are grown up.

It doesn't bother me now. As I said where boys are concerned it is just the same.

We have four sons, always referred to collectively as the boys.
All have family of their own and when we refer to them individually it is by name.
Can’t see a problem myself.

Ooh I’d be delighted and flattered personally. Those were the days ….

That's the reason I suppose - the 'family message' is that you are not 'grown up' until you marry / have children.
I think though, that if you are going to ask the extended family to stop saying 'the girls' you have to ask the parents - from whom the others are probably taking their cue.

Interesting, prompted me to think about how I refer to people.

Yes if I hadn't been made aware that some people dislike this, for various reasons, it probably would never have occurred to me.

As I said upthread, I think it's a bit different from a group of friends referring to themselves as 'the girls'.

My friend says it makes her feel as if people think they've never fully grown up because they're not married with kids. She could be projecting of course, but I take her point.

I could think of worse?{grin}

It's personal. I grew up around women who called each other 'gel' (hard g) and would refer to meeting up as 'seeing the gels', or 'the gels are calling round'.
It is other people who tell me that the use of the term 'girl' is demeaning. I certainly don't regard it as professional and wouldn't use it in the workplace or similar formal places.
But within families and groups of friends, my experience is that it is warm and sociable - and not belittling in the slightest. If anything, the gels I grew up around were formidable.
I suspect that the women who dislike it are aware of being belittled in other ways. My youngest child was referred to by a diminutive that his older siblings used. Aged about 8, he asked for it to stop - he didn't really mind it, but it reminded him that he was the youngest! We followed his request.

My comment makes it sound a bit like I don't agree with them.. Here they obviously do mind and an effort does need to be made to change it.

Habits like that are hard to break though

Same for my two.

My two sons, 48 and 47 are referred to as the boys in our family, they don’t mind in the slightest ?

I think a bit of both Violet.

Is it because it is not treating them like adults or more "we have names you know!"

I also would forgive parents, but I'm a bit invested as I have 5 children and there is not always time to run through all their names!

My 2 younger cats are still "the kittens" even though they are definitely not any more lol

I know what you mean about brevity, but if Helen is calling over with her married sister my neighbour says 'Helen and Alison will be over later'.