to hate it when women are referred to as 'mate'

[Mammie81]

I know I am BU! But for some mad reason it really makes me cringe!

Im common as muck, I admit, but Id never say "you ok mate" etc to a woman? It just doesnt sound right to me?

My friends say it all the time! It must just be me!

My DP does a lot of 'aaaaaaaaah mate!' when something funny/crude/mildy offensive happens. (A carry over from mid 90's playground talk! All the boys at school did it!)

Perhaps I should blame him for my aversion!

My personal bugbear is "buddy".

London can be a cruel, cruel place sometimes.

"wholovesyou Fri 24-Sep-10 15:59:26
Most women I know call each other Chicka, darl', sweetcheeks, honeychile' etc
"

That is truly shocking.

Not seriously, my little chickadee! In a, we live in 50's america kind of way!

Mate isnt something we'd generally call each other.

One of the hospital receptionists (who as part of her role has to regularly put calls through to me) calls me (and indeed everyone else) duck or chicken

I am a wimp otherwise I would Have Words.

Mammie 81 I feel your pain!

I have never been called mate by a woman. However some men I have come across have called me "mate" and I really cringe. Surely mate is an expression for men to use to other men? I always feel that they are viewing me as a bloke which is plain weird...or if not very unflattering...

I loathe "mate" for woman and children.

Fortunately most of my friends wouldn't be so common.

Thanks ladies!

I like it from men - it treats me as a friend amongst other friends rather than marking me out as the freak with lumps on her chest who needs to be treated differently with her own special terminology.
"Babes" from women makes my teeth curl, but I know the women who use it see it as acknowledgement that I'm part of the gang so I feel flattered even as I cringe.

I've had a lovely decorator about my age round the past few days and he is always calling me 'mate'. I think it's really sweet - I feel like we're mates! Far better 'mate' than 'love'.

onepiece, one of the veg sellers at our local farmers' markets calls everyone duck. I was a bit taken aback at first but now I think it's hilarious.

my best friend calls me 'daft cunt' or mate, bloody londoners!

I cant find the words to explain why but Daft Cunt offends me less...

"Mush" for birds and "Prrk" for geezers, surely?

She does say it in a nice way- I'm a bit more girly than her so if I cry at a film she's like 'ohhh darft cahhnt' (that was my lahndan accent btw!)

Bleughghg..... Being called mate makes me cringe and "guys" whether at work or in a restaurant or in fact anywhere makes me feel so awkward I can't actually physically unable to make eye contact with with whoever uttered it. So no, you're definitely not BU - it's hideous and the main reason I can't watch Jamie Oliver, along with his prolific use of the word in the sentence "oh mate...it's easy as..." to the female producer of his early series

Mate is cool, my aussie friend called me that and "treasure".

"Hun" or "Babe" is worth going all Hit Girl on them though.

PS. Mate isn't used frequently in Canada, so that could be why it sounds cool to me.
We do say "You guys" all the time, I noticed that isn't very popular at MN. My NZ friend calls me Chicka sometimes, never hear that over here either.