Another kind of buddy

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Wed Jun 13 17:41:14 UTC 2007


>Hmmm... other votes?
>
>m a m

I wouldn't say "Hey buddy" to anyone, and I'd probably shy away from
"Hey, mister!" too.  If someone dropped something I might go with
"Excuse me!" if "Hey!" tout court seemed to be...too court.

LH

>On 6/13/07, William Salmon <william.salmon at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>  When I need to address a male stranger on the street, I am just as
>>likely to
>>>  use "buddy" for the vocative noun as "mister":
>>>
>>>     Hey, buddy/mister,
>>>        you dropped something!
>>>        turn on your headlights!
>>
>>"Hey buddy..." has always seemed a bit condescending to me, not quite
>>like saying "Hey boy...", but getting there.
>>
>>WS
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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