Are we Ageist?

[flower]

I dont know about you..but it makes my hair curl to have a person of considerable youth to myself call me "Darl" or "Sweetie"...or such.
Thats something I call the little people.
I wouldn't dare call an older lady "Darl" or "Love".
Would you?
O's mom.

[wattle]

I don't like being called 'love' by anyone, any age (especially spring chickies though).

Not sure why... just always hated it. I think it sounds really common. Oooh, don't I sound like a snob now!

[aardvark]

I don't care what age they are, I can't stand it - and I especially hate being called "Pet". I'm likely to respond by saying "woof woof".

I'm also not that keen on being called Mrs (insert name here). I figure Mrs (insert name here) is my MIL, and she's AWFUL!!!

[cosmic]

I had a friend with a kind of Sth African/English accent and when she called anyone "Love" it sounded very nice. Genuine, even! And so I kind of picked it up, which is funny because I used to hate it too.

I seriously hate being called Mrs.

Did anyone see one of those Australian Princesses call the stuffy British woman "Honey"? :eek: She was horrified. It was hilarious!! :D

[carls]

I just left a job with a 21 year old receptionist that used to call our male clients (and we're talking high profile clients) 'sweetie' and 'hun'. Needless to say she got away with it - after all, she got her job from screwing the CEO's son, not for her PR skills!

[melzy]

I am not fussed if someone younger calls me darl or luv. I have friends who are reasonably new to me who call me darl and it doesn't bother me at all. I believe that is just them and their personality and so be it. If they called me an old fart I'd be offended but nah, not worried about it.

[xkwzit]

I'll admit it - I am seriously Ageist, but only for one particular situation. I had never minded male doctors, even for pap smears, a male doc did not bother me AT ALL.

Until one time I went to the 24 clinic for some minor thing and saw a male doctor who I thought could be younger than me :eek: . That did it, it was the last time I saw a male GP. I could not let these little boys look at my bod. Fortunately any specialists I've had to see so far have been much older than me, but I think my problem is only going to get worse with time :o .

Anyone else have a weird ageist confession...

[Chickadee]

Anyone else have a weird ageist confession...
A young waiter called me "miss" recently and I just about kissed him! But that's my age bothering me, not anyone elses.

I don't like love, honey, darl or other terms much from anyone, regardless of their age, but generally brush them off. I did have a boss (about 55-60) call me something like "young woman" once at work. I came back at him with "old man". Jokingly of course. He was utterly stunned for a minute before laughing, and watched his words around me from then on.

[WeThree]

i was in a shop the other day and the very young shop assistant called the man next to me, who would have been in his 50s 'darlin' and you could just about see him bristle! it sounded really condescending and rude, i will often call friends of similiar age pet names, but i was always taught to resoect my elders, i certainly wouldnt refer to one of my grandmothers friends as darl, hon or love, bit rude i think.

[hummingbird]

How about the term 'doll'? I worked with a woman (she was about 35 with two kids) who ended practically every sentence with 'doll' and it really rubbed off on all the staff. It was like being a school when you used to always insert 'like' after every third word. She's since left, but I still catch myself saying it, but only to friends who are my age, ie 28, when I see them - I think I must use it instead of the word mate, as that is the other affectionate term I use with friends. I would never call an acquiantance or stranger 'doll' though.

Another girl in the office used to overuse the term 'love'. She's Irish though and got away with it - it was her 'thing' and was quite sweet. A colleague of her's picked it up though and it just sounds condecending. I am NOT your love.

I always thought 'pet' was short for 'petal'? If it means an animal then I am not that crash hot on it now........

[Sharlee]

I hate being called maam, darl and being refered to as a guy eg when DH and I went to a servo and the man asked 'are you guys right?'

Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter

[xkwzit]

Maybe thats an "Australianism??"
Better than being MISTAKEN for a man!!
I did that to that SYD newsreader Tim Bailey on a flight with that mangey blond mop of his..."If you could just please put your seat up now ma'am.."
Ewww!!

In my *much* younger days I worked at the costume jewellery section of a department store. I saw two young ppl with long hair and said "Can I help you ladies?". One of them looked up and said "I'm a guy" :eek: I was mortified and had to immediately attend to something far away. :D