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> "that is a {guy|lady} that I work with." "Person" also works in this case. +1 for they. "Lady" seems patronizing to me - would you call someone a "gentleman
by minnca 7y ago
> "that is a {guy|lady} that I work with."
"Person" also works in this case.
+1 for they. "Lady" seems patronizing to me - would you call someone a "gentleman"? To me, "lady" describes a woman who is "traditionally feminine" – I get that when people use "lady" today they don't typically mean "traditionally feminine," but "lady" is still evocative of a time when women were seen as delicate/demure/less than men.
- sethammons 7y agoLanguage changes and evolves. I don't think that it means "feminine" as much anymore and is less paired to "gentlemen;" instead, I think most people use it as a drop-in replacement for woman, girl, etc. Similarly, "gay" has gone from "happy" to a self-describing word for homosexual men, to a pejorative, to a stand in word for "dumb" (man, that field-trip was gay), and now is more towards a non-negative way to refer to homosexual males. All that aside, I'll take the opportunity to reflect on my use of "lady" and I'll ask some of the woman I work with on the side what their opinion is. Thanks for the food for thought.
- lintuxvi 7y ago"Gentleman" is pretty common between male colleagues, 2c