Word Choice Pet Peeve

[debka_notion]

If baffles me when people refer to someone else's significant other, well, boyfriend, as "the boy". First off, because I've never heard a girlfriend referred to as "the girl"- and if someone did, the guy to whom they were speaking would probably get offended. Secondly, and more importantly, by this point, and to my mind if one is dating at all, one is more than a child. "The/your man", perhaps might be acceptable, although that carries all sorts of other undesired overtones, and the gender reverse issue still applies. I often go for "your/the young man" which must have other issues, but at least gives everyone involved some aspect of adulthood, and "your/the young lady" is also fairly unobjectionable. It does sound rather formal, but I rarely have a problem with that. Thirdly, it could apply just as easily to one's son as one's significant other, and that would be problematic indeed.

Comments

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

As Miss Manners has pointed out, a "young lady" is in fact a girl who has just behaved dreadfully.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I think it has to do with intonation- in this case, no one seems to feel like it means a girl who behaved badly, although it's the only case where I've used young lady or heard it used that doesn't have that connotation. In some crowds I might even ask after "your lady", but outside of sf/f geeks or the SCA, that wouldn't sound very normal...