Are You a Lady? ?

For those who cringe at ‘girls’ perhaps that’s how I feel at my ripe old age!

Absolutely don't mind what I'm called, as long as it's said in a friendly manner!

OakDryad - I'm another person who would reach for woman/women - except for the first one which i suppose I didn't really "get". I think I'd need clarification on that one. It seems an unusual phrase to me.

I culdn't care less what people call me as long as they speak politely and courteously and not with a tone of patronage or insult in their voice.

It is not what you say but the way that you say it.

I’m happy to be a lady

It's Lady for me!
If I was enquiring about something in a store and the assistant called for someone 'to help that woman' instead of 'help that lady' I would not like it!

Thanks FannyCornforth you always come up with an interesting thread.

I don't like to use my title on GN.

?

Callistemon21

I don't like to use my title on GN.

Quite so, Lady Bottle-Brush.
Gracious as ever ?

Thank you lemsip, that’s very kind of you

Cabbie21, I think 'client' would be the appropriate word in your scenario.

Addressing a room as 'Men and Women' would sound a bit odd, though.

That’s exactly what happened at my dd’s graduation four years ago! The audience was addressed as ‘Welcome, men and women.’

It sounded most peculiar and I was also very peeved that the female sex had been relegated to second in line. Couldn’t we at least have been women and men?

Although Dh and I prefer to be addressed by our titles, Lord & Lady Loo-Bucket.

NotSpaghetti

OakDryad - I'm another person who would reach for woman/women - except for the first one which i suppose I didn't really "get". I think I'd need clarification on that one. It seems an unusual phrase to me.

I agree it's odd though many would, I imagine opt for She was a perfect lady about it. rather than She was a perfect woman about it. suggesting (to me anyway) gentile, reasonal behaviour not expected of a woman.

I think there's an age distinction too. Ask a vox pop of young people about using lady and indeed gentleman and you would get some non-plussed responses. What is moot for older people simply isn't up for debate among Millennials and GenZ.

In later times, lady has filtered down to the working classes so you get these collocations:

Adj: elderly, middle-aged, old, young A little old lady opened the door. | attractive, beautiful, lovely, pretty | charming, fine, lovely, nice | cleaning, dinner, tea ... The school employs four dinner ladies.

www.freecollocation.com/search?word=lady

There is overlap with woman with some interesting distinctions:

Adj. young | middle-aged | elderly, old, older. Older women often have difficulty conceiving. | adult, grown The little girl she remembered was now a grown woman. | married | single, unattached, unmarried | widowed | divorced | pregnant | childless | business (also businesswoman), career, professional, working | non-working | attractive, beautiful, good-looking, handsome, pretty | desirable | well-dressed | plain, ugly | motherly | hysterical | decent, good | evil, wicked | battered a hostel for battered women | the other woman

... evil woman, wicked woman, plain woman, ugly woman, hysterical woman, battered woman, the other woman ...

Why these distinctions?

I prefer woman, but use lady in deference sometimes, in situations such as when out with young children for example I might say "mind that lady" rather than mind that woman.

I shouldn't, but I sometimes find it patronising when I've heard rather silly old men say things like "lets not be rude in front of the ladies" my inner response, "no lets not! God forbid that we might be sullied by hearing rude language, like we've been living in a vacuum so we've never heard anything like it before" or those God awful dos, arranged by male organisations referred to as "ladies nights" for the purpose of dragging the little woman out from behind the kitchen stove for a rare treat.

I really don't mind being collectively referred to as "guys" all the younger generation in our family address us in that manner and then when we go into restaurants and hear the same it reminds me of our family, so no problem with it.

I do not wish to be called a girl anymore or collectively referred to as "the girls", Woman or women thanks you! equally ludicrous when men of a certain age refer to themselves as "the boys" light hearted it may well be but it just sound ridiculous.

If I must be downgraded from the aristocracy to being a mere Lady, so be it …

I come from a long line of ag labs, peasants, assorted charwomen and washerwomen so I'm happy with woman.

I am a woman rather than a man, a lady rather than a gentleman and, although I think of girls and boys as children, I am a girl rather than a boy. To me, "Guys" and "Folk" are male or female. Quite frankly, I don't care which I am called and I think we spend far too much time taking offence at words. I take my offence at the way something is said rather than the actual word used. Life is just too short to get concerned about language to the extent we do today.

Surely "Ladies and Gentlemen", as a form of address, can simply be replaced by "Everybody"?

I loathe guys; a friend of mine was recently addressed as "guys", yes - in the plural, when he was alone in a restaurant. As a retired teacher, he would have been perfectly happy with "sir".

Come on don’t you feel young when addressed as ‘you guys’? Always preferable to ‘my lovely’!

Well, for a Yorkshire lass to be called lady it is absolutely way off the radar, well it is to me anyway, there may be others on here from Yorkshire who disagree, fair do's.

I can't say I would be content with being called a lady nor madam. To me its too eloquent, its not down to earth enough for me.

TerriBull

I prefer woman, but use lady in deference sometimes, in situations such as when out with young children for example I might say "mind that lady" rather than mind that woman.

I shouldn't, but I sometimes find it patronising when I've heard rather silly old men say things like "lets not be rude in front of the ladies" my inner response, "no lets not! God forbid that we might be sullied by hearing rude language, like we've been living in a vacuum so we've never heard anything like it before" or those God awful dos, arranged by male organisations referred to as "ladies nights" for the purpose of dragging the little woman out from behind the kitchen stove for a rare treat.

I really don't mind being collectively referred to as "guys" all the younger generation in our family address us in that manner and then when we go into restaurants and hear the same it reminds me of our family, so no problem with it.

I do not wish to be called a girl anymore or collectively referred to as "the girls", Woman or women thanks you! equally ludicrous when men of a certain age refer to themselves as "the boys" light hearted it may well be but it just sound ridiculous.

Brilliant dragging the little woman out from behind the kitchen stove.

Whoaaaaa i am 100% behind you on that perception.

My Dh calls me his lovely lady and i recieved a letter from the NHS referring to me as a lady.
Looks weird on paper,i prefer a woman all day long.

The NHS referred to you as a lady, not a person? I hope you complained!

I prefer woman. And like some others, I hate hearing grown women called girls. It feels demeaning to me, with implications of dependency, even helplessness.

I have no preference, have used "Ladies" to describe 'women' I don't know that well.

Otherwise they're known as 'the girls'.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" generally the way a group of men and women are addressed.

I've heard 'Gals" in casual use plenty of times, no matter the ages.

I was just thinking recently of how people always refer to "my boyfriend' or "my girl friend".
Sounds a bit juvenile when the subjects are seniors I think.

Women are really good at calling a friend, male or female, a 'girl friend' or 'boy friend'.
Yet a man wouldn't call a male friend 'my boy friend'.