to think a 29 year old is a woman, not a girl?

[Shoesytwoesy]

just seen Kate (HRH to be) and another 29 year old woman referred to as girls in the press.
surely by that age you are a woman

I'm 31 this year - and would love someone to call me a girl. and still ID me.

Is he only 29? God he looks way older than that.

LynetteScavoSat 23-Apr-11 09:49:11
Would that be because you go out drinking with your mates and watch a lot of football, BoneyBackJefferson?
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football

it is normally when I go visit the parents and the older end of the family.

"the boy is here" etc. :)

I hate the use of girl for woman.

Naff, infantalising term.

I'm still a girl?! Woo hoo! Now that IS a reason to break out the bunting!

I remember being referred to as a lady about 5 years ago, as in: "mind out the way of the lady" and being mortified. On balance is probably fair enough. Am not a youth anymore and would not want to be (closing eyes to possibility of size 8 clothing, bikinis, no stretch marks, ladybits that don't look like they have been mutilated, boobs that sit somewhere above my navel), I will accept the term woman happily.

Is like when you go to France and get called 'madame' clearly you ain't pulling the wool of anyones eyes anymore! Also, girl oft used to describe unmarried woman? Better than spinster. Maybe K&W are married she will be referred to as a woman.

Agree re Kate looking haggard. Blimey, what happened since the engagement?! She may be thin but yikes, the face is taking the strain of the weight loss and stresses of wedding planning. Poor thing.

Yup, she's a woman. 'Girl' is disrespectful and a way of keeping her in her place.

Yabvu!!! I am the same age as Kate and live all this talk about the "young couple"

Well as I was previously accused of infantalising my Bloke by buying his clothes for him. I might as well do the same to myself and be a girl.
We'll be like the house of Peter Pan yeah!!

My husband answered the door once and the person from the electric board came to read the meter and they said hello lad,is your mum in. He had been married 4 years. It made his day!

YANBU, I think it's belittling. It is not an absolute though, I don't have a problem with groups of older women friends calling themselves "girls", as in "night out with the girls" etc. But I do think there's something very odd about women being referred to, in particular by newspapers, as "girls" long after men the same age get called... men!

My colleague and I are team secretaries to a department within a professional services firm. We are routinely referred to as "the girls", which I find utterly sickmaking .

It depends on the person. Some females are girly and some are womanly. When I first met my DP, he said I was the first 'woman' he had dated, and I was only 27 at the time! Kate Middleton strikes me as girly, and therefore referring to her as a 'girl' is not inappropriate. Its all about how someone carries themselves. I feel 'womanly' and not 'girly', but personally it has little to do with age (however, any female over 40 is a 'woman'!). On saying that, I don't mind being referred to as a 'girl', people can get too precious about these things.

It depes on your attitude and what you are doing at the time.

Being a boy/girl/man/woman isn't a fixed status, it's flexible.

*depends

YANBU I also think it is a bit patronising to use girl for anyone beyond 16/18, I find the whole process of infantilising adults very uncomfortable

I went out to dinner with my best friends once and the waiter said "how are you girls tonight?" They both immediately attacked him for using "girls" instead of "women". I was like FGS it's just a word! Sigh...

Of course I often say "hey, kids" to adults or even "hello children" like the Chef from South Park. :)

I remember many situations where a mother has been with her toddler son.

Yes, you've guessed it - she's been referred to as a 'girl' and the boy as 'little man'.

I teach erm people in their young 20s and often refer to them as girls (especially as they are female..) but it goes down like a lead weight. I say 'good girl' (or said - not any more!!) and you'd think I'd hit them - I wish someone would say 'good girl' to me, I'd love it! It is a figure of speech, my friends and I all call one another girls. if I am addressing the class, what do I say? People? Guys? Everyone? Class? Very hard to get this right.

why can't you just say well done? good girl when you are in your 20's seems just odd imo.

I did specifically put on my birth plan that I was not to be called a 'good girl' as it would really piss me off!!!

"Man and woman don't mean old and haggard though. They mean an adult human over the age of 18."
I agree. I always refer to myself as a woman, never a girl.

Loathe the word girl when applied to anyone who has stopped growing. I am woman, hear me roar.

and what's wrong with being 'old' (which doesn't necessarily mean haggard btw) I'd like to know??

I say the same to my boss re good girl and she says the same to me. It is a figure of speech, an exclamation of encouragement, meant affectionately, received affectionately.

But it's well done when talking to young women who are too close to childhood and don't want to be seen as children. horses for courses.