I haven’t referred to my own experiences. I’m not one of the people affected either by “friend” or “sir”; I’m happy being called either. As I’ve already indicated, my views are based on what others have reported their experiences to be.
When the waitress called me, 'honey,' I assumed we were now married.
So you didn’t come from a beehive?
In parts of the north of England, people affectionately refer to each other as “duck”, which actually derives from “duke”. Just imagine how much that would make the literalists’ heads spin!
I agree and not doing that means that there is not relationship designation necessary at all. Anything said in a light and truly respectful manner is all that is necessary. Now if they had the ability to know your actual name that would be more seriously taken but would also be weird and downright terrifying. However as a group greeting, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls should be something that everyone could relate to based on their own internal identity. Or even Friends or Folks should also cover group situations, just not individually.
I’ve regretted not studying a lot of subjects in college. Linguistics is one of them. I’d honestly love to be called “duckie” lol.
I do think there is such a thing as Standard English (Standard French, etc.), meaning the variety used in formal communication, but the standard is evolving rather than fixed. “Thou” was once the standard pronoun for the singular second person (except when addressing superiors) but was already obsolete by the eighteenth century and is now so misunderstood that people think it’s more formal than “you” rather than less (hence Darth Vader’s incorrect “What is thy bidding, my master?” to the emperor). Not only does standard language change, but it isn’t “better” than other regional or communal varieties. Every accent, dialect, etc. is interesting and legitimate in its own right.
An interesting aspect of American spelling of the language came about because of one person, Noah Webster.
Eh!! And a happy day to you, paisano!!
That’s pretty much how it is…. When I board the Main Street trolley they typically just say “welcome aboard, lower your head and watch your step” but then when addressing the whole trolley they often say “hello friends, please stay seated….”
I was joking. But on my list of things to worry about, pronouns don't even make the top 1,000.
I definitely get where you’re coming from. I believe one of the reasons linguists say Standard English doesn’t actually exist is because what’s considered “Standard English” may not be the same amongst all the Englishes in the world. So not only does it evolve and is ever-changing, but it’s different, depending on the country. For example, in American English, we don’t use “whilst.” Also, from what I understand, the Oxford Comma is mostly an American thing and isn’t common in Great Britain (I could be wrong about this).
Great point! There is no one universally accepted standard.
Question! Is “theater” spelled like “theatre” in British English?
Something I learned in my Shakespeare class as an undergrad is that the various American accents are closer to what many English folks actually sounded like in the in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Londoners didn’t start dropping the hard “r” sound until sometime in the 18th century.
It’s “theatre” (along with “centre”, “metre”, “litre”, etc.).
