Subj : Cough...  1.
To   : alexander koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Mon Sep 04 2017 21:56:13

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AH>  If what he wants to do is get somebody else to notice his
 AH>  presence it might be counterproductive if s/he thinks
 AH>  s/he's in danger of catching some dread disease...

 ak>  It would have been too much! He wanted just to attract her
 ak>  attention. ;-)


          Exactly my point....  :-)



 ak>  Probably, he just didn't know how to address her. For
 ak>  instance yesterday, at BBC. com, I read an article about
 ak>  the people who demand to address them with "they" instead
 ak>  of he/she. ;)


          I haven't read this article... but I think I see why some folks might 
have strong feelings as to the use of pronouns.  Can you give us the URL?

          Meanwhile, what nouns do we use when we want to talk about or talk to 
a shop assistant whose name we don't know?  Both Paul & I steered you away from 
anything involving "girl", probably for similar reasons.  Such individuals were 
often called "shop girls" in the past & may still be today.  However, even when 
there's no argument WRT how much a certain person's gender really matters there 
is another issue.  Years ago Dallas & I had a (male) friend who said "the girls 
in the office".  As it happened, we'd met some of these "girls"... at least two 
of whom were married women aged 40-60.  Dallas & I agreed that the word "girl", 
when the speaker is not part of the group, could imply feelings of superiority. 
OTOH when a group of friends go on an outing together & they're all of the same 
gender they may describe themselves as "girls" or "boys".  In this case I would 
imagine they treat one another as equals, regardless of their occupation.

          Now... does one address a female shop assistant as "Miss" or "Ma'am"? 
I could write another essay, but the bottom line is that if "Mr Woulf" finds it 
easier to cough politely at times I & other folks will understand... [chuckle].



 AH>  The shop assistant might well be reading a cheap thriller
 AH>  or romance novel... OTOH, she might well be an impecunious
 AH>  student cramming for a test the next day.  :-Q

 ak>  Is there any connection between money and cramming for the
 ak>  test?


          WRT my hypothetical student, there may be a conflict of interest.

          In North America, university students generally have to pay for their 
education... so it's quite common to see them doing menial jobs during evenings 
&/or weekends in order to scrape together the necessary funds.  It's also quite 
common for them to do a lot of intensive review, AKA "cramming", in the last 24 
hours before a test... especially in subject areas which call for memorization.

          I reckon that in the short term this individual wants to keep her job 
because she needs the $$$... but she's not planning to make a career of it.  In 
the long term she hopes to qualify for a diploma which would enable her to seek 
more interesting & well-paying jobs.  If business is slow on Sunday afternoon & 
she thinks her boss won't notice she may be tempted to take a quick look at the 
periodic table or whatever in anticipation of a test on Monday morning....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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