to think that there is NEVER an acceptable reason to call a 32 year old woman a "young girl?"

[Hullygully]

No I'm not.

I couldn't care less what emotive flannel is flung about.

IT. IS.NOT.ACCEPTABLE.

The end.

Love these threads.

' if someone called me 'girl' i'd consider riding them like a Blackpool donkey quite frankly.'

Brilliant

If they called you a YOUNG girl no doubt you'd call them a paedo

If this is in relation to the PC who was killed, I think it is understandable that people use such language to highlight her young age and the loss of the life she should have had. The fact is she had more childhood than she will ever have adulthood.

Well said, Tiggytape. What people are neglecting to focus on (hey, nothing's going to get in the way of turning something into a feminist rant) is that the REASON that the media and the officer's statements have used words such as girls or whatever is to accentuate the fact that they actually are human, and young, normal people - not just a faceless police officer who is the 'enemy'.
They're NOT the enemy. They were young, and vibrant with EVERYTHING to live for. They had their whole lives ahead of them, and the fact their colleagues had such fond memories and words for them was lovely.
Maybe those looking for something to protest about would rather they just rattled off a cold, factual statement instead, instead of something with meaning?
Much better to humanise the police force. It might make the brain dead idiots with such hatred for them stop and think that they're just normal young people under the uniform.

This is something I hate soooooo much. However, don't get mad, get even.

Address the speaker as Old Boy or Old Girl. Ask if they get good use out of the bus pass. Ask how many great grandchildren they have. Come out with, 'You don't look a day over 50/60/70/80.' Ask where they were when WW2 broke out.

Tends not to happen to me, though, as I am an old gimmer myself.

Scurryfunge- I am a female police officer and I am with squeaky toy. I know nothing of this 'constant battle' with my colleagues you talk of. You don't speak for me or any of my colleagues, male or female. In fact, if you are an officer yourself, you will know that male officers can often be referred to as the boys. I've heard different people of different ranks talk of lads and lasses, boys and girls, men and women. Yet all spoken with respect. Huly gully and co, you are showing no respect to those dead officers and their families. This whole thread and the other are awful. You should be ashamed, don't pretend that you are trying to do me or any of my colleagues any favours.

Totally agree, I'm 32 and would find being called a young girl very belittling.

I'm so flipping slow on the uptake. I thought someone had called Hully a young girl.

Finally twigged that this must have something to do with one of those poor murdered police women. Agree referring to a fully grown woman who holds down a responsible and sometimes dangerous job as a "young girl" is probably not the best use of language. However, I guess she was a young girl to her parents & grandparents. Do I have a point? Not really. Maybe I don't see this as the most pressing aspect of what has happened here - while at the same time recognising that if you never register demeaning language - nothing ever changes.

How well have a I straddled the fence?!

Post - join me! I have expressed v similar sentiments

no no hully. you ca only say her post is moronic. for all we know she has a a superbly logical mind which if she could just marshall her words properly would wipe the floor with your arguments. (wotcha jamie!!!!!)

why on earth is hully showing them "no respect"? I cannot get head round that at all

i personally dont think competitive angsting and grieving about their deaths is any more respectful. (not referring to people who actually are serving officers who may well be affected more by this incident)

Both deceased police officers have been praised to the roof about their personal qualities and how much they were valued by colleagues whilst doing a v difficult job. One man using the phrase 'young girl' has managed to upset Hully and a few others.

Latest score from MN: Team Hully 10 v 0 Team Sense of Timing and Proportion.

Strawberry, I am glad the issue passes you by. Good luck. Ignorance is bliss.

I don't think anyone has said anything moronic. I think people are expressing how they feel.

P.S. Isn't moron an offensive term?

Maybe so Fanjo but equally a few people are taking offence at a comment when none of the family or friends of the fallen officers have. By that measure, you're (plural) no different.

fanjo - because it seems that pointing out that words matter is disrespectful now.
Thou may not in any sense discuss any development whatsoever if it in any way may be held to impinge on a tragedy. Thou may only declare 'how sad, how sad, how sad'. Tis your place as a woman girl after all.

Oh i see - i was misled by the thread too. However Hully your concern over a statement in a time of upset and anguish is noted. However i'd recommend you get a life and if you have the time and the inclination you spare a thought for the familes rather than carry on about the horrors of misplaced grammar ..you croc wearing tree hugger

Fanjo, This whole thread has been flippant, smug, jokey and deliberately so...not in any way respectful to people who lost their lives so very recently. And yes, maybe my response is emotional but flannel it is not.

am loving the heights melodrama we can scale together....but lets make a push for the peak, eh? i for one think hully is an attention seeking paedophile who is persnally responsible for single parents, benefit cheats, royalty bashing and Broken Britain. and she hates pink. and she toasts the kittens the other one stamps on.yes she does. bitch.

I think these poor, murdered women would be so sad to hear that this is what you are concerned about - rather than why a man wanted for a double murder was allowed out on bail!

Sometimes MN makes me sick to the stomach - populated by people who only care about why their point of view is the most important, belittling those who disagree.

Northern - good point. I wonder if I've been sucked into people-pleasing? Aaargh

but its a separate issue. I'm sure hully also feels the incident was very tragic and a sad loss of life, as indeed do I

Oh yes I absolutely agree fanjo. Not a pov that some seem to hold though.