Yeah, still don't like it. Madam seem so very matronly and stale.Originally Posted by Virgil
Yeah, still don't like it. Madam seem so very matronly and stale.
Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
miss i dont mind. but with madam americans pronounce it more ma'am and as i've said, "Mam" is what i call my mother.
"Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
W.B.Yeats
"If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
my poems-please comment Forum Rules
I don't like Madame or Ma'am. I don't think anyone in my entire life has ever called me Madame. Maybe it's regional. No one has ever called me chick either; this I would hate! I do recall people I knew calling me babe, but it was more in the spirit of fun, nothing really serious. My last boyfriend called me by my name and I guess I did call him honey or darling ocasionally and only at home, if I felt particularly warm towards him, but not too often. Mostly, I called him by his first name.
"It's so mysterious, the land of tears."
Chapter 7, The Little Prince ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Would any of the posting ladies like to be called "gal" or "femme"? If I were a lady and had to choose I would go with the latter but.... I am no "femme"Besides there is a slang connotation for this word and... you know how slang is... always dirtying words that sound more or less nice.
Okay, here I go: How have you been today, princess Janine? ...
As you wish, Duchess LMK ...
Hmm. I guess I use both madam and ma'am.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I didn't know this and now I do, so I wanted to share what I found. For example, the words "male" and "female" are not etymologically related (check below). another thing I didn't know is that ladies were originally loaf kneaders.
Etymologies:
WOMAN: Old English wīfmann, from wīf (‘adult female’, Modern English wife) + mann (‘human being’).
MALE: Middle English male, borrowed from Old French masle, malle (Modern French mâle), from Latin masculus (“‘masculine, a male’”), diminutive of mās (“‘male, masculine’”).
FEMALE: From Old French femelle, from Mediaeval Latin femella (“‘a female’”), from Latin femella (“‘a young female, a girl’”), diminutive of femina (“‘a woman’”). The ending was remodelled under the influence of "male", to which "female" is not etymologically related.
LADY: From Middle English lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe, originally literally ‘loaf-kneader’
LASS: From Middle English lasse < Old Norse *lasqa (“‘an unmarried woman’”). Cognate with Scots lassie.
Max, a loaf-kneader!! Where are we supposed to stay, in the kitchen!!!
"What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare." W.H. Davies
Of course not, Lynne. You ladies can stay wherever you want. I was just giving the origin of the word. In any case, apparently, the first ladies were loaf kneaders. With the mingling of time ladies acquired other professions and abilities, what's more than good
I'm a bit confused by the questions. Are these terms used in directly addressing women by men? I don't think any man in his right mind would ever address a woman directly by saying, "hi chick, how are you". Chick is a word used to address a third person — she's a hot chick...
So, if a man says to me in greeting, "hi chick", he's dead meat. But if he says to his drinking buddy, eyeing me (with a wink), "she's a hot chick", ha, I LOVE IT
I have no problem with baby, it's endearing. Honey is touch and go, "I miss you honey", is ok, but "can you get me a beer, honey?" is not so ok.
Lady is genteel but a bit formal. "You're a beautiful lady" only works in an early stage of a relationship. "May I kiss you lady?" That script just doesn't work.
Madam? ughh! I hate to be ma'am'd! It has a connotation like "honey" but worse. "Can I help you ma'am?" just sounds ugly. Then if they think they've already done enough for you, they'd say, "yes ma'am" with irony.
"But do you really, seriously, Major Scobie," Dr. Sykes asked, "believe in hell?"
"In flames and torment?""Oh, yes, I do."
"That sort of hell wouldn't worry me," Fellowes said."Perhaps not quite that. They tell us it may be a permanent sense of loss."
"Perhaps you've never lost anything of importance," Scobie said.
Chick is a reference that I THINK came from the Hispanics.
'Chica' is girl!
Les Miserables,
Volume 1, Fifth Book, Chapter 3
Remember this, my friends: there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.
ooh, I like that one!hahah..how 'bout 'Most Esteemed Duchess'.....
Now, see how easy that is? It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?...wink...Okay, here I go: How have you been today, princess Janine? ...
As you wish, Duchess LMK ...
Thanks for humoring me!
~L
I'd rather have questions that I can't answer than answers that I can't question.
It does roll off the tongue
Not every man is in his right mind. Some suffer from an overdose of self-esteem.
... unless the man who wants to kiss you is a medieval reenactor, in which case you can pretend he's a knight in silver armor, adding a romantic zest to the relationship
True, "chica" means girl in Spanish, but remember that chick is also a contraction for chicken. It would be good if we could ask the first person who had the idea of using "chick" to address ladies as to which of both meanings was intended
I'll take that from a real knight any day...... unless the man who wants to kiss you is a medieval reenactor, in which case you can pretend he's a knight in silver armor, adding a romantic zest to the relationship
"But do you really, seriously, Major Scobie," Dr. Sykes asked, "believe in hell?"
"In flames and torment?""Oh, yes, I do."
"That sort of hell wouldn't worry me," Fellowes said."Perhaps not quite that. They tell us it may be a permanent sense of loss."
"Perhaps you've never lost anything of importance," Scobie said.
Hmm... who knows... probably a real knight suggested the idea in the first placeI'll take that from a real knight any day...
It depends on who uses what.
While I actually like being called "babe" or "baby", I DON'T like it when it's from strangers. "Miss" would be both appropriate and acceptable.
And I feel a sense of euphoria when people to whom I am close to call me honey, darling, missy, sweetie pie, loveydude (which I first heard from my sister), etc. Basically any form of endearment is very much welcome IF AND ONLY IF used by people I enjoy being with. Otherwise, I get those as insults.
I especially hate it when men call women "chicks". It somewhat carries a connotation that a woman is meant to be food for men's fantasies,well at least to me. Even friends won't be spared a cold shoulder or a kick or a punch from me if they use that word to address me.
I am flattered when guys call me "lady". Friends and relatives tell me I'm SO childish and everytime I'm addressed as a "lady", I feel matured. (But it's kinda disappointing to learn its origin. HMPH!)
There's this one guy who said to me, "See you around, my fair lady." It was the first time a guy called me a fair lady but HIS fair lady???I absolutely hate phrases with possessive pronouns like "my girl", "my woman" or whatever "my" phrase coming from a guy. Do men want to be called "my man" by women???
I'd rather be called "girl" than "woman". The latter sounds rigid and too sophisticated. Lassie's cute, too.
Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes, vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.
Yo sé quién soy, y sé que puedo ser no sólo los que he dicho. - Don Quixote
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
