Whaaattt?

@cactus_girl That's correct. Anybody can witness a Will as long as they are not a beneficiary. The only advice we were given was for everybody to use the same pen to avoid any potential claims that the witnesses weren't actually at the signing of the Will.

 

I believe this is because they have taken back the word which reduces it's affect as an insult.

 

He needs his head examined.

 

I can relate to that. It's quite normal for me to say "come on girls" etc in our free time when we are out with "the girls"- a group of professional middle aged ladies.

If a male would call this group of ours "girls" in for example in a professional context, it would feel derogatory.

I'm very happy to be a "girl" within my group of "girls" but would not like the term to be used by someone not within the group as it often still has undertones of belittling women vs. men.

I think we all have personal examples like this in one form or another.

It is a sign of respect when an outsider recognises these things and behaves accordingly.

 

I call myself a silly old sod all the time, but I reserve the right to defend myself against another person calling me that.

 

Think I’d be rather flattered to be called “ a girl” at my age

 

One of my male colleagues once referred to me and a female colleague as "the girls". I referred to him and some male colleagues as "the boys" and he took the hint.

 

@JennyJB When I got my first job in computing - 1977 - it was with a small software house of about 50 people with a female receptionist (Eddy Kidd's younger sister), 2 secretaries and a few computing women form trainee like me to project manager. Every Friday a "report" would appear on the coffee machine indicating the best dressed woman of the week.

After a few weeks of this I got together with a senior programmer and we went round the office looking at all the male bums and occasionally lifting a jacket vent then going Hmm or Tut or just nodding or shaking our heads. The list on the coffee machine was never seen again.

@Tidemark I call myself all sorts of things depending on what I'm doing but when some young Belgian friends of Possum heard me calling OH "You stupid boy" they thought I was mean - no Dad's Army on Belgian TV.

 

I'm lucky as i'm a broken down 2CV, male but not working

I've been called lots of things even something that sounds like Banker and my replay was twice nighty and enjoy it

Miss Jiff had someone say, "trouble is with you women you'm all wired up wrong" Miss Jiff's reply was " That's my excuse what's your's (name)

 

That got a lot of people in trouble, not least David Cameron if my memory serves.

 

Caught up on my reading. You are correct Bluejayway. My last minister did some training in California where Gay Pride marchers held banners with the words:
Good
As
You

 

Thanks for that @waterbut , I heard it from a friend of my parents.

 

I'm just so glad I'm retired and don't have to walk on eggshells in the office. If anybody takes offence at being referred to as 'the girls' or 'the boys' I think they need to get a life and stop looking for every opportunity to be offended. Just a personal opinion. Other opinions are available, although possibly not permitted in this crazy world we now all occupy.

 

In the 1970s I worked for Natwest - back when it was called National Westminster Bank Ltd!
The branch I worked at had a staff of about 12 and only 4 of those were male. The sub-manager, one of the males, frequently called us all lads. "Come on lads, get these customers served" etc, etc. He was also prone to making remarks that, nowadays, are considered to be very sexist indeed. We females just took it as it was meant - a joke.

 

I never really had a job where there we women working, apart from the last few years where we had some youngsters joining.
I used to dread going into the office as I always felt like a fish out of water, a very different atmosphere and seemed you had to mind what you said all the time with certain people, male or female.

I could never have done office work it would have driven me round the bend.
Call it lads culture, or what you like, at least nobody took real offence at what was said, it was banter and treated as such, and thinking back some of it was pretty ripe.

I think it was sometime in the early 90s when they came round a ripped all the calendars off the wall.