to be incredibly irritated by the term 'lady' partuculalry when used by one woman about another.

[moondog]

So faux genteel.
It's woman.
Ok?

I'm happy to be a woman, but don't get as stroppy about 'lady' as I once did, as I am an old woman.

I find it amusing how 'lady' is used euphemistically for things that 'ladies' wouldn't talk about in mxied company.

E.g., online supermarket has 'Ladies hair removal' (though it is 'feminine hygiene').

Men just get 'mens toiletries'.

Exactly SG.
Hence my dislike of it.

My DD go to Ladie's College. Just started in year 7. Hasn't improved her table manners though.

YANBU. I heartily dislike it too. Too formal. Too much aristrocratic baggage. I will use it occasionally when I feel it's appropriate socially, but if anyone I know used it to describe me they'd get a serious stare.

I am polite. I am not refined or elegant and I have no desire to be so. I am woman, hear me roar!

I use 'lady' and 'gentleman' when referring to third parties, as the UK cultural equivalent of 'auntie' and 'uncle'. Otherwise it is a joke word

i went to an equality and diversity course where the trainer put to us that there are a myriad of diferent ways to refer to women but no so many with men.

usually in a conversation about men - one would say....men

but women there are so many diferent terms in everyday use that we apply.

i can't remember how but it subjugates us

reminds me of faux victorian postcard with affronted "gentleman" remonstrating with another gentleman "how dare you fart before my wife!" - " sorry sir, I didn't realise it was her turn"

It's to do with the old gender thingy though innit.

In a world where all females are referred to as a woman, all women would be ms.

In a world where we are still mrs/miss or ms there will always be lady/woman/girl/young lady blah.

And men are just men, or boys.

FWIW I say "give the money to the nice lady" to DD in the supermarket.

,shrugs>

I have pretty much always used "woman" BUT one woman I knew used "ladies" in a very camp, knowing way. And, I'm sorry to say, I have been a little seduced into using it when out with my circle of lady friends. Who of course know that I know better ... .

Oddly, something that gets me, somewhat unreasonably, is when women talk about their "girlfriends". And they don't mean ladies they're shagging.

I find that a bit too faux-jolly for my tastes.

moondog you do make me lmao

"lady" makes my teeth itch too

Custardo - is it because 'woman' can sometimes sound harsh or even derogatory, while, 'man' is just, 'man'? 'Old woman' sounds positively insulting (though I am happy to be one, see above), while 'old lady' merely descriptive, or at worst, patronizing?

I think I'm rediscovering my inner feminist here, moondog.

i always say lady unless its someone young then its a young girl

!

odd

actually py

the trainer informed us that woman was the correct term for a...woman

not lady

not girl

these all have connotations

( i knew why)

If you are addressing a group then 'Good Morning Ladies'is surely preferable to 'Good Morning Women'isnt it?

eclectech - do you really not desire to be elegant or refined? (by inference you are content to be clumsy and coarse?)
I would love to elegant and refined, I don't always suceed mind but will keep on trying.

I would use gentleman, and did when a young whippersnapper jumped the queue today at the self check out. I said excuse me (well, oi...) this gentleman is next.

You are only diminished or subjugated if you choose to feel so.

I hate lady, really annoys me, men are just men, why shouldn't women be women.

I do refer to ladies, usually in the "mind that lady" way.

Although it is very hard not to affect a David Walliams voice (yes, I know that sketch stopped being funny about 5 years ago, but I still can't help lapsing into it: "This is for a LADY! And LADIES' things!" etc.)...

Surely having lots of different choices for how you might refer to females is a good thing? I can't see how it would subjugate anybody.

Ah. I always say "nice lady".

And I though I was a feminist.

Because we are special Wonderstuff

jemart "elegant adj having or showing good taste in dress or style, combined with dignity and gracefulness." Nope. My 'style' is comfortable and scruffy. I do not mind whether other people see this as showing 'good taste' or not. It has no impact on my worth as a human. It is not worthy of comment.

"refined adj very polite; well-mannered; elegant." I am polite. That is important. However I have no objection to being coarse as well, sometimes a situation demands it. Others would, at times, consider me to be ill-mannered because I will ridicule and satirise things as I see fit.

Both terms are full of baggage about women are meant to behave. I aspire to neither.

Deep cultural inhibitions stop women from saying 'woman' about another woman when they are present.That's going to be hard to overcome.

Even more bizarre is the sort of woman who says 'I was out shopping and this lady in the queue said..'

I mean wtf? Marginally acceptable if over 75 and left school at 14 but for anyone else-!

Weeeeeeiiird.