English vs. Russian: greeting strangers (and names somewhat)

[William Ryan]

John Dunn mentions "those for whom молодой человек or девушка [devushka] are no longer appropriate". I am not sure what age one has to reach for such forms to be thought inappropriate. Last September I, an aged white-bearded and bespectacled pensioner, was peering too closely at an exhibit in the Historical Museum in Moscow when a woman attendant half my age addressed me quite sharply as "молодой человек". From this I have to assume that the expression is now a general purpose address to any unknown male, like "Jimmy" in Scotland.

Will Ryan 

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