[DiSaidSo]

Originally Posted by Davec

They may have insufficient information to determine whether "Ladies" applies to the females in question.

Well if you do not think, for whatever reason that she is a lady, then woman will suffice.

[Island Girl]

I call people (men and women) "dear" quite a bit. I think it's more informal and doesn't label anyone as being young ,old etc: I know there are some that don't like that but ya can't please everyone...

[DarqueMist]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

I call people (men and women) "dear" quite a bit. I think it's more informal and doesn't label anyone as being young ,old etc: I know there are some that don't like that but ya can't please everyone...

I'm one of those people, I think of "dear" as a term of endearment and when someone that doesn't know me well calls me "dear" I find it belittling.

[Island Girl]

As I said you can't please everyone. I've heard the response that "dear" was too familiar a term to use on a stranger and I can understand that but it's baffling to me how anyone could find it belittling Also I am terrible with names so it helps out there...
Hope you're never called "dear" but from my being around here awhile I think you are anyway

[dotty999]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

As I said you can't please everyone. I've heard the response that "dear" was too familiar a term to use on a stranger and I can understand that but it's baffling to me how anyone could find it belittling Also I am terrible with names so it helps out there...
Hope you're never called "dear" but from my being around here awhile I think you are anyway

calling someone "dear" in the UK can be taken two ways.. if it is said in a nice manner, perhaps someone thanking you then it's fine, but it can also be construed as condescending, all depending in the way it is said ... ok dear? now that's condescending but... have a nice day dear is ok

[Island Girl]

Hi Dot
I don't have a condescending bone in my whole body . I personally haven't experienced any one who disliked it ( that I was aware of ). Then again I honestly like people and I'm sure that's conveyed by either my tone and/or body language...

[DiSaidSo]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

I call people (men and women) "dear" quite a bit. I think it's more informal and doesn't label anyone as being young ,old etc: I know there are some that don't like that but ya can't please everyone...

I find myself calling people dear without even realizing it sometimes... My parents call each other "dear" & "honey" all the time.... So it's the norm for me.

But also, living in the South, I find that there are a lot of terms of endearment that get thrown around a lot.... I get called hon, sweetie, dear, darlin.... by complete strangers, all the time. I think it's sweet most of the time.

[Gabriel]

My dad would always call my mom deer....and she had pretty doe eyes...so I thought he was calling her deer for the longest time

[Farmgirl22]

Ok, I have a pet peeve, and I suppose I'll air it out here, since it's the designated area for that. I got signed up for this website called "Mamasource" which is supposed to be there to help with all your childcare questions. That's all fine and dandy, but why does it seem like the site would be more aptly named "stupid people who should not have reproduced asking retarded questions about their kids????" It's the same four questions over and over, and if you ask about something that doesn't involve potty training, how to get you child to sleep through the night or ADD/ADHD, you'll get no help from that bunch...and if you did, it's generally so off the wall that it's of no help...unless you want your kids taken away so that you can wear one of those pretty white coats with the little buckles on the sleeves!!!

[Farmgirl22]

Oh, and I forgot to mention one of the other ones...Why can't men change out the toilet paper roll???!! It's not rocket science!! My hubby is great about most things, but not that...and we have one of those where you just slide the old one off the end and slide the new one on...and when he does venture to change it, he puts it on backwards!!!!!!!! WTF????!!!!

Do other women have this trouble???

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by MSM Hobbes

Major pet peeve, fitting for the past two day's driving conditions of thick fog...

Idiots that do not drive w/ their headlights on.

YES!!! And it's always the white or silver vehicles that you really can't see that do it too!!!!!!

[Blackmirror]

Originally Posted by Farmgirl22

Oh, and I forgot to mention one of the other ones...Why can't men change out the toilet paper roll???!! It's not rocket science!! My hubby is great about most things, but not that...and we have one of those where you just slide the old one off the end and slide the new one on...and when he does venture to change it, he puts it on backwards!!!!!!!! WTF????!!!!

Do other women have this trouble???

Oh yes .... it is one of those niggling little things that drives me bonkers ..

as well as them going upstairs to the bathroom ( i have 2 loos lol one downstairs ) sitting down for a poop and then Can you throw a loo roll up the stairs for them as they didnt replace it last time .....

enough to make a woman scream ..........

[lighthouse]

My idea of a young woman now - being 43 - is someone in her mid 20s (although she would be called that from the age of 18). I have to add though that it'd be difficult to have a relationship with someone who would be my age now when I am 63 years old. Also, her values would be different to mine because she would have been very influenced by the last 15 years - and I'm not hugely enthused about that prospect.

Pet peeve today though is people who have never worked in what I call the real world - but are in positions that influence our lives. Soap stars who begin appearing in them in their teens - who then start making records - and thus become a part of the celebratocratic awareness process are symptomatic of a shallowness and superficiality that pervades our lives now. Neighbours for example (an ethnically dubious show anyway - because, like where's the Aboriginal representation, or that of the large Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese and Filipino refugee community? It's just the white European origin people - many of whom are descended from the sort of people you wouldn't want your son/daughter having anything to do with - but there's no other grouping in it) has spawned quite a few people like this and I'm not sure it's particularly healthy. A media worker - who will get rather well paid compared to most - can come straight from college and into the job without really knowing what real life is about. If I was in personell for a media organisation I'd say to such an applicant - "you do realise that you'll be in a job that means you potentially influence the opinions of millions don't you!?" and then tell them that I won't employ them until I see some real life stuff on their CV - perhaps a minimum wage job for a while - even unemployment or incapacity - because then at least they'll be writing, broadcasting or researching form a rather more informed position than what they have known in the very contrived student environment of tutorials, halls, the NUS, and campus life generally. I remember when the opposite process began happening at the beeb in the early 90s - and it wasn't particularly good because there was this influx of people who just seemed completely contrived, rather arrogant and a bit fake.

[Farmgirl22]

Peeve of the moment...(I have too many a day to limit it like that)....News stories about celebs that just keep going and going....

A perfect example of this was the Anna Nicole story...honestly, can someone really say that they care all that much??? Why is it that every time a celebrity does something stupid or otherwise, we have to hear about it for several days?? I'm not a big news fan, but I become even less of one when all we hear about is the stupid antics of Britney or Paris, the brainless bimbos!!!

[DarqueMist]

Originally Posted by dotty999

calling someone "dear" in the UK can be taken two ways.. if it is said in a nice manner, perhaps someone thanking you then it's fine, but it can also be construed as condescending, all depending in the way it is said ... ok dear? now that's condescending but... have a nice day dear is ok

Dotty .. you hit it bang on, I shouldn't have said belittling. Condescending is a better way to describe how I "hear" it. Don't get me wrong though, it doesn't irritate me to the point of anger or anything. I just don't like it.