Children referring to "ladies" (lighthearted - I say this wearily, just in case)

[ChampagneTastes]

My 3yr old DS has started pointing at me and saying "you're a LAAADIE" in the manner of Little Britain. Apart from find Little Britain mildly distasteful I don't like it and I have found myself correcting him, telling him that no, I'm a woman. He does not accept this.

My DH says he thinks "lady" is the polite way for a 3 yr old to refer to a female older person.

AIBU to dislike it and want him to say "woman" instead?

I refer to the lady or the gentleman with the dc.

Person seems...well really weird tbh.

A little old lady (ha! I even use it) who lives on our road insists on giving the dc £1 each when we bump into her. I have no idea of her name - I've asked but she's too deaf to hear bless her and just talks at you, gives the £1s and then toddles off.

So my standard sentence to the dc is 'Oh, how kind. What do you say to the lady?'

To say 'What do you say to the person?' sounds off and unnecessarily contrived.

Yes, but in France there is still the vous/tu distinction. Try and imagine a society where that only applies when the subject is female...

Since we've used person, gender specific in those contexts sound off to my ears.

"Madame" in English has, in some contexts, come to mean "brothel keeper, probably retired from active service". So you can see why some might feel uncomfortable with the title.

Hirples Yup. Because a Madame is a Mademoiselle who has had sex. And we do like to know that. Which is why our daughters must move from 'Miss' to 'Mrs', whereas our sons are pretty much 'Mr' throughout.

I hate being called lady and manage to avoid using it when addressing other women on most occasions, equally I would never refer to a man as a gentleman.

However, I do think there are times when woman sounds too blunt, particularly coming from a child.

And referring to a grown woman as a girl is just cringe making.

Here in person the kids call you Mrs if they don't know you, like sorry Mrs can I get my ball back etc. I dont mind it. Once a guy came into the garage looking for his keys, I sent him to the shutters where one of the mechanics was standing and he said the lady up there said you could get my keys and the mechanic laughed at him and said she's no Fucking lady. my reputation precedes me

I find myself using 'lady' to my children, but mostly 'man' rather than 'gentleman' (so it will be 'mind you don't bump into the lady' but 'mind you don't bump into the man' - I have been known to use 'gentleman' on occasion, but it isn't my default option). I do this because, as in several other posts, I do somehow feel 'the woman' sounds abrupt and impolite. I dislike feeling this way, because I think it points to an underlying societal attitude that 'woman' is somehow an insult. It's childhood conditioning. I am also aware it is hypocritical, as I would much prefer to be referred to as a 'woman' myself.

My DH is Aussie and addresses women he doesn't know as "Ma'm"

I always say he sounds like Huck Fin or someone!

"Excuse me Ma'm can you tell me which aisle the toothpaste is on?"

I live in the US South. It's ma'am here.

Hmm.. I don't think I've addressed anyone as a noun DD is pointing at black women. Then it's "That's a woman, let's wave and say hi instead of point".

Otherwise it's "Don't bump into her/him" or "Wait your turn she/he was here first".

My Mum has been known to proudly say that she raised woman not ladies

I have a tendency to use both lady and gentleman when referring to a particular person I don't know when gender differential is needed within their hearing especially for the older generation however describing a 3rd party later on I will use wo/man

I would love a female version of Sir for telephone calls (have used madam in the past) as a short sharp application of the word can stop a ranting very upset caller in the tracks and allow me to help but Madam never feels natural (call centre veteran)

My 2 yr old told his nanny yesterday that 'mummy is a nice lady'. That whole sentence looks like something from 1924 lol! But it was in context so I think it was adorable. Nanny had just said 'wasn't X (older woman they had visited) a nice lady?'. He said yes, then paused and said my mummy is a nice lady. Sweet!

I love "person". It's weird enough to be a bit funny. What about "human" or "mammal"?

The worst one which I hear a lot from patronising men trying to be polite is "female", but used as a noun:

She knew the offside rule, even though she was a female.

Aaargh!

Read the whole thread and realised that the op meant warily and not being in a state of tiredness.

Just sayin'

My DH, almost without exception, uses the term 'gentleman' and not 'man'. He would definitely say 'dinner gentleman' and 'mind out for that gentleman'. When I first met him I admit I found it a bit odd, quaint even (he's not posh or even particularly well-spoken or anything and it just sounded strange). Now though I try to do the same, I think it does sound more respectful.

I also hate madam - makes me think the person is implying I'm being a 'little madam'. But I do love how Americans call me ma'am.

I agree it's strange and I would never refer by myself to an adult woman as 'lady'.

But when I had children it just came out of my mouth! It was so weird. I started saying lady to describe women. Now ds1 is 4 I'm making a real effort to say woman, but my conditioning runs very deep

I would personally rather you told him to "watch out for that girl" when referring to me as it would make me feel young and winsome, even though I am 32.

wearily is being used in the correct context so not sure of the raised eyebrow?
I also think it depends on the situation of when lady/woman is used

My DD use to call females either little girl or lady, and boys little boy or gentleman.

We were in Tesco and a lovely 12ish young woman was helping us pack things up for a charity event and DD(18 months at the time) kept referring to her as little girl. She was so embarrassed, after that we taught her young lady or young man. Still feel sorry for that poor girl.

My daughters' nursery call their support workers/key workers/teacher 'ladies'. I abhor it... And that's not hyperbole. I often wonder what a man would be called if one were to join the staff.

Saying that, the nursery also address all correspondance to Mrs Husband's Surname whether that's your name or not because, you know, only women deal with childcare.

Language changes over time. So my use of the word lady now is not at all meant in the way it was years ago. Nowadays for me it's just a friendly respectful way of referring to another women.

If the word gentleman wasn't so long people might be more inclined to use that too - but it's a bit of a mouthful

Language changes over time

Yes. So why is it that 'lady' has; but 'gentleman' (which is no more "long ago" than 'lady') hasn't? Why do we need a special form of address for 'women' that identifies them as worthy of respect - when for a male, 'man' is enough?

Meh

Use lady and would probably find it a bit rude to be called woman.

Gentleman is a bit of a mouthful and arguably therefore abbreviated to man.