Well I am in deep hot water here. As you know, English is not my mother tongue. On a French ex-pat Forum, I stated the other day that we were hosting the village 'old biddies' for lunch on Thursday- and all hell let loose.
Apparently this is highly condescending and disrespectful. Of course it depends on the context and how it is said, but the way I used it was affectionately and 'tongue and cheek'. The elderly people we host once a month (twice in December) know how much we love and respect them - having 40 over for lunch with activities afterwards, with all the heating, cooking, serving, cleaning, etc, etc, this entails should speak louder than works I'd hope.
Well anyway, would love to know your take on this. Were my words really that offensive in the context? Thanks.
