To think calling 25/26 year olds lady is quite odd

[Fedupwiththis70]

I just feel that woman is more suitable for younger people. Lady I always think of as at least 40. Recently heard someone call a woman at work that lady with the blonde hair not even a young lady just lady. The woman is 25/26. Don’t know if it’s just my views though.

The point is you don’t need to repeat everything and keep telling people that they don’t need to use ladies and gentleman

It’s all you keep saying say everyone

No it’s fine to say ladies and gentlemen

You've just said that, @RizzleDrizzle.
😂 😂 😂 😂 truce?

I think this may be generational. I remember my grandmother correcting me very crossly when I referred to her neighbour as "the woman next door". She said "she is not a 'woman', she is a lady!" And yes, she would also have used 'gentleman' instead of man. i disagree. I'm in my twenties and I'm perfectly capable of deciding which is the most polite way to address someone.

I'm 65 and I'm a woman not a lady.

I don't mind strangers referring to me as a lady in a shop or to a child in the way that they may refer to a man as a Gentleman.

To me though, in any other usage it is old fashioned and suggests a standard of behaviour. As in 'it's not ladylike to xyz'.

Used when I was younger referring to drinking pints, eating in the street, swearing - all things I am still more than capable of doing. So NO I am not a lady.

I would consider it polite to say "the lady". Probably more polite than "the woman", probably because it's a little more formal.

I work in a shop and I'd much rather be lady than woman. Not sure why it just sounds a bit brusque. I always use lady and gentleman when talking to my toddler.

And I'm nearly 40.

I'm in my early 30s and definitely find lady /gentleman to be the polite, respectful term for somebody you don't know in a formal or professional context. It's not a generational thing, it's just a feature if context relevant language.

When with a group of friends I'd probably refer to "that woman over there" but if speaking to someone like a shop assistant or when I'm at work for example, I'd say something like "I think this gentleman was first"

Agree with many other posters. I was brought up to refer to all adults as ladies and gentlemen, and that it was the polite terminolgy to use. I still use lady and gentleman to this day - "that gentleman over there". Woman/man was considered more blunt and less polite. Not necessarily rude, just not particularly pleasant. I am northern if that makes a difference. It shows how language changes that some now find being referred to as a ladies offensive. But it still feels wrong to me if I refer to 'that woman'. That to me sounds much more derogatory than saying 'that lady', and i can't bring myself to do it.

I think of lady as anyone over 18.

I say lady rather than woman, especially to my DS(5). I can't imagine myself asking him to "move out of this woman's way". To me that sounds rude.

I only started getting called lady in my 30s.

I don’t like ‘love’ which I think sounds patronising but might just be the part of the country I’m in.

@SweetCruciferous

I only started getting called lady in my 30s.

I don’t like ‘love’ which I think sounds patronising but might just be the part of the country I’m in.

Where I live you get called 'duck' or 'duckie' but I think its dying out now which is a shame.

@Wotsitsarecheesy I agree. I work in retail and when referring to customers while talking to colleagues I will say "the lady/the gentleman(or gent)", as do people I work with.

If someone wants to refer to me as "the woman" I'm not offended. I'm not offended by being called lady either. What DOES offend me is being called/referred to as "the girl". I'm a 40 year old woman with 3 kids, one of which isn't even a teen anymore! It's patronising. As is young lady.

I tell my children for example "say thank you to the lady" for any female over mid-teenish really, just seems more polite than woman and I definitely wouldn't say girl for an adult woman. But other children where I live are told "say thank you to the aunty" (and uncle for males) which is quite lovely and I sometimes use it though I find it hard to get out of the habit of 'lady'

The Isley Brothers made a record called 'That Lady' a few decades ago. If you've not heard it before, don't try it now in case you pass out from the shock.

As a man (or should that be 'gentleman' ?) I'm often referred to as a 'mister' by mothers instructing their children not to walk into me. It does make me wince; I prefer to be described as a man. I don't imagine children would have any difficulty with that.

I agree with PPs who say that woman/women shouldn't sound rude or offhand but, somehow, it does. Nobody addressing a group of women would say something like, 'Pardon me, women, may I get past please ?' It just hits the ears all wrong. Likewise, saying 'men' in a similar context doesn't work.

I wonder if it's only in the English language we have these gender pronoun problems ?

Ah I hadn't seen the post that thinks the word woman is rude 😂 How ridiculous!

Maybe she's reading into it that the sayer thinks she ain't no lady.

But then, the OP is annoyed about people thinking a twenty something IS a lady. Can't win.

It's not that woman is rude, it's just casual, and therefore inappropriate in certain contexts.

It's like you wouldn't introduce yourself at a job interview with "Alright, mate?" You'd say something like "Good morning, nice to meet you."

Context matters.

I'd been interested in how many of the posters who think the word woman is somehow "rude" also call their genitalia by euphemistic, naice words. I suspect a large overlap on a Venn diagram...

@NoCureForLove

I'd been interested in how many of the posters who think the word woman is somehow "rude" also call their genitalia by euphemistic, naice words. I suspect a large overlap on a Venn diagram...

I call a spade a spade, a penis a penis, a vagina a vagina and so on. I also say bottom. No euphemisms here .

@NoCureForLove

WTF? What exactly is rude about 'woman'??

Is "man" equally rude? Or do you always say gentleman in order to avoid being impolite?

If I were with a small child, then yes. I would. It's polite.

@BertieBotts

It's not that woman is rude, it's just casual, and therefore inappropriate in certain contexts.

It's like you wouldn't introduce yourself at a job interview with "Alright, mate?" You'd say something like "Good morning, nice to meet you."

Context matters.

Exactly Bertie. It's all about context. It's not a difficult point to grasp.

I was first referred to as ‘this lady’ when I was about 14 and loved it. That said I usually say ‘woman’ now, but certainly don’t think it’s unreasonable to refer to a teenager as either.

@NoCureForLove

I'd been interested in how many of the posters who think the word woman is somehow "rude" also call their genitalia by euphemistic, naice words. I suspect a large overlap on a Venn diagram...

Nope. Not at all. As BertieBotts and I'm sure others have pointed out , it all comes down to the context it's being used.

Still you can always pop over to FWR. This thread is being commented on disparagingly over there.

I preened a bit when I was called "Mamzelle" rather than "Madame" in Paris. It was probably to get a bigger tip though.