Looking for a partner

If "gentleperson" were not so awkward to say, I would take it as a fine and acceptable substitute.

Pep, "Lady" is, as you well know, laden with classist assumptions about "gentility" and conduct. Yes, it IS a compliment, but one that erects as its standard of behaviour a woefully outmoded social structure that implicitly denigrates anyone not "born to the blood" or privileged by the kind of education not accessible to anyone below the upper middle classes.

You're overcomplicating things, gentlewoman - which is much more acceptable than "gentleperson".

Pep (I go to the "gents", you go to the "ladies". Simple, really.)

Oh that gender expression and gender relations were simple

Hmmm. Coming from someone who was offering to provide, in another thread, a detailed etymological explanation of why "s" is employed in preference to "z" in British spellings, I find the suggestion that **I** am over-complicating things a bit hard to swallow!

Etymology and the cultural history of words, matter, on a connotative level at least. This is why poets work with a copy of the OED at their elbow. It's why the old joke "That's no lady! That's my wife!" is "funny" (ha ha ha). And it's why "lady" does NOT mean the same thing as "woman."

Our language is replete with this kind of archaic holdover from less egalitarian times. If the reality of the class system has changed a great deal over the past century, this alone is evidence that the attitudes associated with it have not. When you call me a "lady," what you are really suggesting is a degree of surprise that someone of my lower-end background should be able to master the courtesies associated with my social "betters." It's the linguistic equivalent of a patronizing pat on the head.

Another term that I DESPISE because of its forelock-tugging connotations is "classy," which is shorthand for "high class." If Britain had ever had a proper revolution, like the French, and tossed the inbred buggers who still warm the seats of the House of Lords out on their ears, the English language might be less prone to this kind of ongoing condescension.

Yeah, and what he said too.

Do all Canadians have such an overdeveloped and misguided sense of English history?

Pep (You *are* well-balanced; a chip on each shoulder.)

In "About Land", in the Access or Options tab (I forget which), there is an option to control how avatars arrive. You can set it to "Anywhere", or designate a landing point. Speak to the sim owner and see if this can be changed to meet your needs.

You can set an object "For Sale", and also set it to sell the object (in which case, the buyer must then Take the object after buying it, and then it's gone), or to sell a copy of itself (in which case the orginal can stay where it is, and another customer can come and buy a copy.)

I like "classy"coz its really nothing to do with class - it shows you've got style and more han enough "bottle" to stand up for yourself in a world of the hoi polloi.

And it's got a lot to do with the way you dress and carry yourself. And how you dont demean yourself to fit in the wih rabble. That's "class". It's alaso called "elan" or "panache".

I prefer "courtly" to "classy".

CS Lewis once ranted for a while about the gradual change in the meaning of words.

"Gentleman" once meant a very specific thing: a man of the peerage, a "landed gentleman". A man could be a gentleman and still be a coarse, crude, unmannered individual.

As a member of the nobility, though, gentlemen were expected to exhibit certain characteristics (though of course, not all of them did). Things like education, manners, charity, politeness, and honor.

In time, "gentleman" came to mean merely a man who exhibited these qualities. And thus (complained Lewis) a perfectly good word became needlessly spoilt for its intended use.

"Lady" suffered the same fate, for the same reasons.

I like being classy. I know I'm classy when secretaries hate me.

Oh puh-leaze!!!!

(Do I have to direct you yet again to that scene from the Ruling Class?)


A nice thumbnail history!

(Too bad that Lewis was such an uptight prig, though.)

Also know I'm classy when waiters give me the best table.
(trying to get a "rise" out of Scylla)

Of course if you go back a bit further, a landed man had to be a gentile because jews weren't allowed to own land.

I still prefer the tern "Lord High Protector" when applied to myself. As for Scylla and Jig, I wouldn't call them wenches or whores, so I will stick with lady or maybe girls.

Nah, that just means that you look well-heeled (i.e., wealthy enough to tip well). They couldn't give a flying you-know-what about your social quality.

SEE!!!! SEE!!!! Not just "classist," but RACIST as well!!!

/me sits back smugly.

Uhhhh . . . well, thanks?

How about calling us "women"?? (I'm not big on being called a "girl," except by other "girls." Do I need to go into why? )

what's wrong with "birds" and "blokes"?

It makes it nice and easy when you are sending out party invitations because you can put "BYOB+B" on all of them without worrying whether the recipient is male or female.

/me is VERY classy

Hmmm, let me check on the etymology of "birds" in that context, and I'll get back to you!

Nope. You are WAY better than "classy"!

Nope, can't be racist, maybe religionist or ethnicist. Unless maybe you are talking about Ethiopian Jews.

Women is more generic and clinical. So for females I like, I use lady or girls. But girls only in a plural sense. /me ponders the use of "hen party" instead of girls.


Of course there are the old stand bys: Honey, Sugar, and Babe.

ARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Secretaries love me. I thought it was because I am nice, and because I buy lunch on Secretarie's Day. I never realized it was cause I'm not classy.

Edited for Pep: That would be *Secretary's* Day, not 'Secretarie's'.

aw, thank you

@ Treasure: I *think* it's either secretary's (if it's a day for just one of them) or secretaries' (if it's a day for all of them).

I wasn't really looking for love, just being facetious and disingenuous. Love usually finds me, despite my bad self.

I bought an old decaying building which I had originally been using for a military-esque theme. However, I realized that based on the character of the place it would actually be great for an artist to live, and decided to turn it into a photo gallery for the hundreds of RL exotic photos I've taken over the years. I also realized that I could sell some of these photos. So this is my first SL business ever.

This is probably the most productive use of my SL time and money. I can now display my photos under different themes for my own enjoyment, since most of them have been locked away in my hard drive for years gathering dust, and for whoever passes by. Maybe every now and then someone might buy one. Doesn't really matter though. It's the principle that counts.

I am now a SL Art Gallery owner and "entrepreneur". Might inspire me for RL too.

There will also be a slide show running 24/7 of art from around the world.

This thread made for a very enjoyable Friday morning read.

My real life "Lady" friend (she attended the wedding of Freddie Windsor and Sophie Winkleman the other weekend) claims that getting tables at supposedly full restaurants (particularly in America ) is just about the last perk of nobility left. I don't complain when we jump the queue.

Pep (Oh, and there is a world of difference between "class" and "style"; and if you don't know the difference you have neither. )