Is it rude to call a woman a lady?
I only see the word "lady" used as a female variant of "lord" while female adults are called women formally. In informal situations, women end up being called ladies and as a form of address.
Is it rude to call a woman "ma'am"?
It is not rude to call a woman ma’am, but it can be ego-bruising.Ma’am is short for madam and is the proper way to address a married female, or a widow, regardless of age. Miss is short for Mistress or Missus, and is the proper way to address an unmarried female of any age. 300 years ago, miss meant unmarried, but Mrs. did not mean married. When a girl transitioned into adulthood, or her mother died, a girl because Mrs, married or not.In a way, we still allocate miss and Mrs. according to age, but the dividing line is decades later than it used to be. If we wanted to allocate solely on the basis of marital status, we’d have to know every addressee’s marital status. We don’t, so we have fallen into the convention of addressing young women as miss and middle-aged and older women as ma’am. There comes a day for every woman when someone will see her as a ma’am and address her as such. What does it mean? I don’t think I have to tell you.After her first ma’am, there will still be more misses than ma’ams for a few years. The ma’ams are jarring at first, but less so as the years go by.Boys and men experience an age-related change in how they are addressed, but it happens in the transition from boy to man, not from young man to old man. When a boy starts looking as though he no longer is a ward of his parents, he’ll start hearing hey, mister from children, the equivalent of hey, lady for girls. Sir kicks in a little later on, so there are a few years when no one knows how to address a man. Older people can say Excuse me, young man when they need a store clerk’s assistance, but it’s old fashioned and probably won’t last many more generations.A woman might seem foolishly vain if being addressed as ma’am gets under her skin, but if men who appear to be middle-aged or older were addressed as sire and only young, spongeworthy men were sir, they would feel the sting of that first sire just as surely as women feel the sting of the first ma’am.
Is saying "lady" to refer to a woman rude?
Someone did so in class the other day while saying something along the lines of "this lady was ____". It wasn't a rude story, or anything. She was just using lady. But the teacher interrupted her and said "Can you say woman, instead?" So...is that rude? Or is my teacher being weird?
Is it rude to call a woman/women female?
Well, English is a pretty nuanced language.If I am being referred to as a 48 year old female, I’m presuming it’s a medical professional who is writing a note about a medical issue. That’s the only context where I would consider it appropriate.If I’m referred to as “a female” in other contexts, I’m not really anticipating a respectful interaction, no. In fact, I’m kinda braced to have to defend personal boundaries. I’m never referred to as “a female” by anyone who has anything kind or respectful to say.People who are going to say something kind or respectful tend to use “woman” or “lady.”
Is it rude not to say the truth?
Let's say some woman at work shows me a picture of her kid and say ''isn't he cute?'' and that kid isn't cute at all. He has a gigantic head. He looks like Megamind.
Why is it considered rude to ask a woman her age?
Peace:) well im a girl and i don't mind it when someone asks about my age i mean it's a fact and there is nothing bad in saying facts!!! But you know something, now adays or it's the way since ever, women like to stay young so maybe for women over 40 it would be embarressing to say thier age coz they might think they are getting old or something but honestly it's ok and i don't mind it at all, and i guess the older you get the most mature and wise you will be:)
Is it rude to tell a woman that she stunk up a bathroom after she took a long poo?
That would depend, If it's your long term girlfriend, wife, sister, best friend or mom, go right ahead! Exclaim loudly "Damn woman, what the hell did you eat for dinner"?! However if it's your grandmother, new girlfriend, a stranger, your boss, or a woman you know could actually kick your butt. Just don't - EVER! ( especially to your grandmother)
Is it rude to call an African American woman "Sister" or "Sis"?
No, it’s not rude. I call other Black women sis or refer to them as my sistas all the time. Note the spelling.When I use sister with an “er” I’m generally just referring to another (non-Black) woman. I don’t generally go around calling women that, but I have in the past and I imagine I will do so again in the future when highlighting our solidarity as women.Sis or sista, however, I reserve for Black women as we have a deeper solidarity in that most of us have a shared history and unique experiences only we can relate to. We may even share genetics based on that history, who knows?Sis, sista or sister are all terms of endearment I use when connecting with other women and I don’t feel it the slightest bit rude when I’m called the same.Black men (my brothas) have also called me sista numerous times and I receive it in the same familial way.Woman or man, it feels good to acknowledge that bond. I’ve found it also quite useful in breaking the ice between fellow Black strangers.All of that said, it hasn’t happened to me before, but a non-Black woman/man calling me “sista” might cause me to think they’re trying too hard to be too close and too familiar too fast, but I still wouldn’t think it rude. Sis probably wouldn’t have the same effect and sister is definitely well-received.Why anyone would think these are rude is puzzling. Unless you’re talking about rude to other people. For example, I once heard Peter Rosenberg from Hot 97 say that he found it divisive the way that Black men call each other “brother”, but, clearly, he was speaking on something he knows very little about.