Has anyone besides me noticed a definite increase in the use of the phrase "Hey, Girl!", used when one female addresses another? This greeting boggles my mind. Not only is it so generic that it could literally be addressing 51% of the population, but it is directly admitting that, "Yes, I recognize you, and I feel I need to acknowledge your existence, but I don't really want to access the part of my brain that contains your name, and...now, come to think of it, I don't even know it."
This is so prolific at Life Time Fitness, and from my central perch in the Member Activities counter, I hear it so many times a day, that I decided to count, in one hour, how many times I heard it. The grand total? 28!
I understand wanting to say hello to people to be polite and inviting, and wanting an easy way to do it, but the "Hey, Girl!" just needs to stop. Or use it on a few select occasions. Not every time you see another female.
Or, we could start the trend of "Hey, Boy!" It's just not the same.
7 comments:
A former boss would use "Hey, Big Guy" a lot. Apparently if you're both men you have to add an adjective emphasizing the manliness of your friend/coworker/acquaintanceto any greeting.
I, shamefully, am a "hey, girl"er. But only, annoyingly, to younger girls, who I could in some way describe as more 'girl' than myself. I apologize, and will try to stop.
I have gotten better at remembering names, but I always used to address men whose name I could not remember with "Hey, Buddy!" This greeting bought me time as I searched by brain for their name. The worst is when they know your name, but you draw a big fat blank on theirs.
Jessie- I suppose I can forgive you, this once...but your reasoning is a good one.
Also, in response to Suzanne- I think we should see how "Hey, Big Girl" works out. I'm sure people would love it. :)
It should also be pointed out that I use the terms "chick" and "chica" as derogatory terms. (Examples: "This chick is yelling at me because she never got her samples, but she never *ordered* any" and "Watch it, chica!") It is strange to me how few people catch on to it.
As to not remembering names, you don't realize how lucky you are as a kid that you only have to remember one name per couple (e.g. Mr. and Mrs. Jones).
Yeah, I think the marriage thing is the key. It simplifies things considerably, such as "Hi, I'm Nicholas Dekker and this is Mrs. Dekker."
Just kidding.
Maybe.
Yeah, I'm kidding.
Post a Comment