Women, Ladies Or Girls? What’s In A Name?
The English language is rich in many respects; but it’s inadequate, perhaps for very important reasons, when it comes to naming and addressing mature female people. For the foreseeable future polite society will probably continue to constrain women by the words we may properly use here. Men can also be ‘Chaps’ and ‘Guys’, whilst for women until now there’s been no equivalent set of terms…. which may explain why younger people of both sexes, often themselves more consciously gender-equal, have begun to claim these names, Guys and Chaps, as inclusive terms for everyone.
Names meaning everything and nothing. The old adage about ‘sticks and stones’ but ‘names can hurt me never…’ has some truth, but it’s not the whole story.
So here’s a question: how does one properly address a group of mature female people whom one may not know well?
Women, Ladies of Girls?
Is there any other term than these which one can use for such a group as the one above?
* ‘Women’ is a strange form of spoken or formal address; the word refers to a type of person, but it’s not really a collective noun in the formal naming sense;
* ‘Ladies’ is a term which offends some because of its patriarchal and other class overtones (though the Concise Oxford notes it is a “courteous or formal synonym for ‘women'”); and
* ‘Girls’ is obviously not appropriate as a formal term for any group of female people over the age of about 16.
So what are we women to be addressed as? Frankly, I don’t know.
Forms of address for men
This is easier! Men can be ‘Gentlemen’ (formal); ‘Chaps’ (the friendly noun for a group of posibly more mature men), ‘Guys’ (friendly, for younger men, or for Chaps with a more modern outlook?) or even ‘Boys’ (though usually only as a form of gentle teasing between peers, or in families).
Rarely do we hear complaint about any of these collective nouns. There’s something for everyone – at least as long as you’re male. But then of course men don’t feel marginalised or at risk of being demeaned by terms of reference in the same way as some women may, not infrequently with reason.
The new Chaps ‘n’ Guys
Talking with younger women and men, there seems to be a move towards an understanding that Chaps and Guys can be male or female. ‘Okay you guys..’ is the start of a sentence which can be addressed to anyone (collectively) by anyone, male or female, in informal situations. And ‘Chaps’ has become a term which, again informally, refers to any group of people.
Perhaps this is the way forward. In formal situations there seems little option but to use the ‘polite’ forms ‘Ladies and Gentlemen…’; this doesn’t always sound good, but how else does one start? At least it’s equally constraining for both men and women.
Hermaphrodising the naming
Informally perhaps we women can move towards a more hermaphrodite nomenclature. We’re ‘Guys’ and ‘Chaps’ when it suts. This doesn’t, to me at least, feel like the awful legal precedent of announcing that ‘all references to ‘he’ shall also apply to ‘she’…’ and so on. That legal precedent was made by men. We, women, are choosing to be, and to call ourselves, ‘You Guys’ in a rather different way.
The ultimate test for person-to-person, face-to-face, naming has to be that person’s choice, and the type of context in which the choice is made. We can decide in the general sense to use what collective nouns we like, but respect for the individual and his / her ease should take prioity over our own preference when we address another.
If we want real communication, putting the other at ease is important; and if that includes using formal terms because these are the only ones we have, in my book, so be it. Convention, however inperfect, help us here.
Hallo people!
Nonetheless, the English language does leave us a bit high and dry, with ‘he’ and ‘she’ as the third person nouns, and no ungendered noun for individuals except for the words ‘person’ and ‘people’. Maybe we women willl have arrived when the formal way to address groups of either / mixed gender is to begin, ‘Good morning people…’.
But that may take a while, Guys.
How Will We Know That Liverpool 2007 & 2008 Were Successful?
The 800th Anniversary of Liverpool in 2007, and the Liverpool European Capital of Culture Year in 2008, are hugely important milestones for the city. So how are we, citizens of the city or of Europe and the world, going to measure the success of these years, once we reach 2009?
Your suggested responses and answers to this question are most welcome….
Much has already been written, on this weblog and elsewhere, about Liverpool’s 800th Anniversary in 2007, and the 2008 European Capital of Culture Year.
I don’t intend just now to extend that debate – it seems to be developing all on its own… and please do continue to add your contributions on this weblog. But I would like to ask one special question, to which I would also really appreciate answers (please use the Response space below):
By what criteria will, or should, we be able to evaluate the success of Liverpool 2007 / 8?
I’m sure many people will have many ideas on the criteria we should use – or perhaps are already using?
Indeed, it would be helpful to know whether there actually are already sol
Devolution, Regionalism, County Councils And Politics
Despite the reluctance of voters to accept that ‘the new localism’ also means significant change, English devolution is almost certainly upon us; but it’s unlikely to surface in the ways some imagine. Rather, the likelihood is that it will slowly become a part of the wider political landscape, as people seek ways to address specific problems.
Call it what you will – devolution, regionalism / decentralisation, ‘the new localism’, ‘the trend towards ‘city-regions’ or whatever – there is a strongly discernable move towards debate about empowering communities locally as such, and away from national ‘handed down’ political decision-making. Thus, for instance, we can expect the Lyons report on the future of local government cum the Summer.
This has been going on for quite a while now and is, we are told, the basis on which policy and delivery for schools, hospitals and many other organisations such as the intended children’s centres are to be determined. So far, so good…. but maybe, just maybe, we’re also learning a few wider political lessons along the way.
Voters want everything!
It’s interesting that at last modes of delivery are being examined before, not simply after, decisions about big changes are to be made.
According to this week’s New Start magazine there are now various warnings that speedy implementation of devolvement could produce perhaps as many problems as it ‘solves’. This is unsurprising to those of us who watched the orginal proposals for regional government go up in smoke for exactly the same reasons that the new localism will have to ease itself in.. the power and fears of county councils.
Voters may indeed want local powers (though there is always a danger that ‘power’ can mean ‘comfort zone’ if nobody is vigilant….) but many of them also like the established ways of doing things. They want: change without cost; no reduction in the structures already in place; less ‘red tape’; and a fully localised version of services and provision. In other words, they have hopelessly unrealistic expectations.
Sometimes, it can seem, politicians are perceived to be not only ‘power-mad’, and ‘in for what they can get’, but also miracle workers on behalf of their constituents.
Getting real
This is the fundamental dilemma of any politicians who seeks to bring about change. If it’s going to take a long time it won’t happen before they are up for re-election – with the risk of accusations of breaking promises – and if it will be a significant change it will upset people who may want ‘improvements’, but also like the status quo.
This is where responsible journalism (yes, yes) and proper, carefully thought out political education come in. Perhaps there’s a case for a sort-of Sim City game which requires young students of politics and government to make decisions as though a politician against a backdrop, not of physical regeneration and development, but of constant hypothetical re-election.
Such a ‘game’ might help us all to realise there’s no such thing as a free lunch, even in the singular role of voter. What’s the point of demanding the politically impossible, when the real question for voters should be, what is possible, and at what opportunity-cost?
Things happen
There again, perhaps much of the devolution which we are undoubtedly going to see will occur almost invisibly. Politicians may be unable to deliver as they wish – or may indeed be working actively to stop things happening – but often it’s ‘needs must’ which brings change about. There’s no non-collaborative way to secure plans and funding for a major piece of infrastucture, massive funding in a science park or research programme, or a strategy for foreign industrial investment.
As the members of the Northern Way, amongst others, have seen, only joint effort will achieve changes having any significant impact on an area. And it’s these incremental alliances, I suspect, which will in the end bring about the more difficult-to-deliver underlying devolutionary shifts in the political landscape.
Time scales are another problem
The judgement that overt English devolution will have to move fairly slowly if it is to be implemented effectively is probably sound. The only problem is… if a week is a long time in politics, however long in political terms is a decade? Suffice to say that the drive to devolution will need to be really well grounded if it is to survive and have impact on the extended time-scale (a decade or two?) now by some envisaged.
There are plenty of ideas which have taken centuries rather than decades to come to fruition; maybe with modern, technological ways of sharing ideas and cultural shifts we shan’t have to wait that long. But my bet is still that, whatever we see in the end, it won’t be exactly what we think we’re looking at now.
Liverpool, Capital Of Culture 2008? Or Of Chaos 2006?
Liverpool as a city is claiming much for the forthcoming celebratory years of 2007 and 2008, but concerns exist on many fronts about the present. There is more to serious development of cultural involvement than simply ‘community programmes’, admirable though that is. So what sorts of models of citizen and ‘stakeholder’ integration are being developed, building on the experience of other cities which have managed to engage people at all levels? And will these work?
Oh dear. We don’t seem to have got off to a very good start in Liverpool this year.
The end of 2005 saw the demise of several large-scale Liverpool projects, such as the trams project, and before that, in 2004, the embarrassment of the so-called ‘Fourth Grace’ (possibly a vainglorious misnomer? nobody I know thought there were even three ‘Graces’ until someone made that name up, not long ago). And in the Summer we had the debacle of the Mersey River Festival, only now being reported…
Then, to round off 2005, there was the extraordinary fuss over the shifts at the top of our political and administrative power base.
Capital of Culture 2008 now under scrutiny
And now questions are being asked about our preparations for Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008. These have been becoming more urgent over the past few weeks – there were concerns expressed when Liam Fogarty decided to raise the issue of an elected mayor once more – but since the New Year the story hasn’t really been off the front page.
Well, that there are questions is unsurprising, both for particular reasons and because there is always a period before these huge events, as far as I can see, when Questions Are Asked. What is more worrying, however, is the difficulty some actual citizens and ‘stakeholders’ have experienced in learning what’s happening and / or in getting answers.
Who takes day-to-day responsibilty for ‘stakeholders’?
I leave it to others to pursue the specifics of this alarming situation; my own concerns are quite complex, though I do have to say it would be helpful if they were being addressed at the practical day-to-day level… one problem seems to be identifying anyone who can take on issues of normal operational accountability. But there you go.
For me, and I suspect numbers of others, the real issue is, where do we go from here? As a long-time resident of Liverpool with strong roots in the city I know it’s really important that we make a big success of 2007 and 2008, the 800th anniversary of our City Charter, and then our European Capital of Culture Year.
What some people haven’t the foggiest inkling about, however, even after serious attempts to find out, is how they can bring their ideas to bear to help this to happen. And that perhaps has occured also in other European Capital of Culture locations, which begs a question about what models of social and artistic inclusion work best, and where.
The Tesco Effect And ‘Clone Town’ Britain
The ‘Tesco effect’ is a matter of serious concern for everyone, from the All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group to people on abandoned and insular housing estates. What is needed now is more thought for how the future could look, and what can best be done to serve the interests of consumers – and businesses and employees – across the board.
The MPs looking at supermarket dominance have, we gather, been quite clear that the future does not bode well. Leaks from the High Street Britain 2015 report suggest that food wholesalers and independent newsagents may soon be freezed out by supermarkets.
This debate is on-going, on this site and in many other places and is significant for us all – hence my returning to the theme yet again.
Contexts change over time
I do understand why people are concerned about supermarkets. There is a fear that supply chains will be / are being distorted, and that suppliers, especially small suppliers, will be squeezed out in favour of the big boys. Such concerns are both real and legitimate; though we must wait until the Office of Fair Trading reports back on its current enquiries before we come to clear conclusions about the current state of things.
And I’m sure, too, that the all-party parliamentary small shops group, which will issue its formal report on High Street Britain 2015 soon, is thinking hard about the future as well as the present and the past. Nonetheless, I am surprised at the apparent lack of debate (at least as reported in the press) in terms of some of the fundamentals of the issue.
Some basic questions for the future
Amongst the questions which come to my mind every time the ‘Tesco effect’ comes up as a topic are these:
1. Is it the role of local planning officers to offer ‘protection’ to small shop-keepers? And, if so, under what rationale, and do they have a framework in which to do it? (They may well have, but I’d be astonished if I’m the only person who doesn’t know what it is.)
2. Is it reasonable to suppose that supply chains are strengthened when suppliers, especially small ones, collaborate – in of course legal ways? What work has been undertaken to establish vulnerabilities and strengths here?
3. What do we know about the ways that local independent traders can work together to protect their patch, and to offer a quality, forward-looking employment experience to local people?
4. Are there ways in which the energy and other resources put into transporting and other handling of goods – especially foodstuffs? – can be shared more overtly with the customer, so that the purchaser can choose ‘environmentally friendly’ products, as they might well prefer to in local markets?
5. Why is there so little debate about the socio-economic contexts of supermarkets? One size may well not fit all, despite the strength of e.g. the ‘Clone Town’ arguments coming from the new economics foundation and others. In run-down places supermarkets may well be the only employer in the whole area which is big enough to provide stable employment and proper training. In wealthier localtions there may be many other employers who can provide training and career routes for everyone who seeks these. Surely this context makes a difference to ‘value-added’ in terms of supermarkets? So what do we know about the ‘career progressions’ of supermarket workers in various contexts?
6. And finally, who is thinking about the appalling service provision gaps in housing estates throughout the country? In terms of supermarkets they may well be ‘food deserts’, but aren’t there niches here for (social?) enterprises such as farmers’ shops, local bread shops and all sorts? These are not necessarily day-dreams, they could with the right support (and security measures) actually happen; and they could also offer training in trades and retail to local people. So, again, what research has been done to test feasibility, and what work has been done to encourage such efforts?
The questions continue…
We could ask a lot more questions like this. There are indeed many issues about which we need to know more as the ‘Tesco effect’ is debated; but it would be good if such questions could be asked in the context of changes for the future, and of small trader / supplier empowerment, rather than sometimes simply because of nostalgia or of fear of the big supermarkets, whatever.
Newcastle on Tyne: The Bridge And The Sage
The renaissance of Britain’s northern cities is a strong feature of our contemporary society. Nowhere is this more evident than in Newcastle on Tyne, where the new reality is reflected physically in the emergent profile of the Gateshead – Newcastle riversides.
Starting The Year (Calendar) And Making the Century (Weblog)
This is the beginning of the working year – and the one hundredth entry which Hilary has written on her weblog. It’s been an exciting adventure for this weblogger so far; and hopefully there are more topics to come….
It somehow feels right that this is the first working day of the new year – and also the one hundredth item I’ve written for my weblog. After a very hesitant start I actually got going in October, and here I am, still enjoying it all enormously.
And slowly the ‘rules’ I want to work to are becoming clearer: I try to keep things ‘even’ and I certainly don’t want to be personal about individuals; I tend to steer clear of specifically party politics unless I can find no other way to say something (Yes, I am a seasoned honorary officer of the Liverpool Labour Party, just to be sure to declare my interest here); and I seek to share information and views across a wide range of topics, because I feel very strongly that we should all try to connect up ideas and views where we can.
Learning from your comments
I’m very grateful to all those who have taken the time and trouble to respond to various things I’ve written. It’s interesting that the topic which has attracted both the most hits (about 5% of them all) and the most comments is in fact Liverpool’s Sefton Park and the proposals for restoring it to its former glory.
Sefton Park could seem a strange topic for hot debate, but actually that’s just what we’re having about the Park right now – there are people out there who feel very strongly about the whole thing, one way and the other. So perhaps one element of a weblog which attracts active debate is the possibility on a ‘,a type=”amzn”>human scale ‘ of influencing outcomes?
Well-visited topics
But there are also a lot more issues which attract interest, to judge from hits on this website – amongst them, elected mayors (or not), Liverpool’s Hope Street, regionalism and Tesco! And that’s before we get to women’s groups, orchestras, science and medicine, eco-issues and the surprisingly well-visited entries on allotments and art and health.
The weblog continues to take shape
I am of course very aware that my long-suffering website designer, the estimable Nick Prior, has set me quite a few tasks for the next few months to take this weblog forward. There will be re-designs to whatever extent, and I am going to have to make some hard-headed decisions about Categories and the like…. and that’s where the feedback I get from you, our readers, comes in so useful. Please keep it coming!
And for 2006…?
Who knows what will crop up next by way of hot debate? We all have our pressing interests and concerns, and we all have lots to do, so the scope is enormous. But for me I guess and hope there will be some very interesting experiences in 2006. All the things I currently do are fascinating and there’s more for me to add in the months to come – particularly my new role as a Member of the Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Science Advisory Council, about which I shall start to learn more very soon.
So I hope it will be a very good year for us all; and that I shall continue to be able to share some of my ideas with you, and you will do the same for me.
New Year Resolutions For You And Your Lifestyle
Everyone takes time as the New Year arrives to do some mental spring cleaning. This list offers ideas for reflection and perhaps as New Year Resolutions. It’s about how individuals approach their lives and leisure time. I hope it’s useful.
Here’s an alphabet of resolutions and reflections for the New Year. It’s a mix, match or amend menu, so take it where you will. Good Luck!
A Join an Athletics Club, learn Archery, visit an Art Gallery – Anything new. You choose; but just see if you can get a different Angle on life.
B Look on the Bright side wherever you can; remember to make time to Bond with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues…
C Concentrate your mind on something different. Find a Community Choir, go to a ‘proper, sit and listen’ Concert, be a member of a Chess Club (on-line if you like), play Croquet, whatever.
D Is there enough Drama in your life? Find ways to chill if there’s too much. Develop a tast for exciting sports events, politics or live theatre / opera if there’s not enough.
E Increase your Energy: Exercise! Every day.
F Grow your own Food and Flowers sometimes, even if only in window boxes – ‘green’ is good for you in many ways.
G How’s your Girth? If you’re not pleased with your measurements, Get it sorted. Gently.
H Try to stay Happy; think back, every evening, to what’s gone right that day.
I Take In a panto / ballet and let your Imagination run wild; or learn to play a musical Instrument – In a group or with the kids…
J Do a personal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of your Job or other main activity. What does it tell you?
K Perform a random act of Kindness, every day; something you really didn’t have to do, but which makes someone else smile (you’ll smile too).
L Learn about your carbon footprint. And Learn to Listen.
M Make a wish, a promise to yourself which Means something to you as a person. How will you Manage to achieve it?
N Avoid Negatives; don’t be cynical. Life’s too short.
O Organise a visit to somewhere you’ve always dreamed of going; just do it.
P Buy a Pedometer and wear it. When last did you Pound the Pavements or simply stroll in your local Park?
Q We all need Quality time.
R Find time too for Reflection. Life is not a Rehearsal.
S Sort a Same Sex night out – Somewhere you can hear each other Speak.
T Have a TV-free day every week. Go on, give it a Try!
U Understand other people’s perspectives where you can.
V Could you go Vegetarian? It’s eco-friendly and it costs less.
W Sustain and enjoy Wildlife – even if it’s only the ‘diners’ fluttering around your Window Bird Feeder
X EXplore somewhere new, however locally or far-flung. Search and marvel on the internet if you can’t physically get there.
Y Stay Young at heart ( but appreciate the advantages of experience). So….
Z Take the kids (yours / some hard-pressed mum’s..) to, say, the Zoo; join in gladly as they have fun!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Stay (Get?) Slim, Sleep More – The Ideal New Year Resolution
Perhaps I’m being hopelessly optimistic in my reading of the scientific facts, but here’s a New Year Resolution I’m sure we’d all actually enjoy sticking to.. …if only we had the time…
I’ve been saving this one up, as the ultimate bit of cheer for everyone who maybe forgot the diet over Christmas… I read in a Guardian article by Joanna Hall last month that, I quote,
“Lack of sleep reduces the amount of human growth hormone responsible for the body’s fat-to-muscle ratio.”
And she adds that lack of sleep can therefore in part explain older people’s weight gain. Well, here’s the news we’ve all be waiting for.
Of course, Joanna also says that sensible eating and adequate exercise are essential for weight maintenance (you have been taking your brisk-ish turns round the park during the holiday, haven’t you?), but the good news could seem to be, ‘Sleep more, weigh less’…. and lest we forget, isn’t it true that our mums used to tell us we had to have a decent bedtime if we wanted to grow big and strong? (More muscle, less fat?)
So there we go. The must-have New Year Resolution: I really will try to get more sleep.
Wonderful in theory; and maybe just as hard as dieting and keeping the accounts straight in practise? But, unlike diets and accounts, at least it has a feel-good about it.
And a Very Happy New Year to you alll!
Dreaming Realist 