[Phil30402]

Didn’t see my original posting, so I am asking again … it seems typical of Southern and ‘African-American’ speech patterns to refer to another woman (by her woman friend) as ‘girl’ during conversation when she is being addressed rather than by her first name. I don’t understand this behavior. To me, intimacy is fostered by the use of personal names, and the use of a general noun, which could refer to anyone, and in fact, just describes the gender of a person, is highly impersonal. I don’t buy an argument about ‘plantation behavior’, we are free to use whatever language we like now. Why not honor another by using their name? When I hear the use of ‘girl’, for example by Oprah Winfrey when she switches to ‘Black lingo’, it is used in an affectionate way, but it also diminishes the ego of the person, almost putting her in ‘her place’ – reminding her that she is not as big as she thinks she is.

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Name : Phil30402, City : Pittsburg, State : PA, Country : United States, 

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