"Leader DeLay"??? What's up with that?

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:19 PM -0400 5/15/05, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>At 10:17 PM 5/15/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>
>>>>LOL! I not only hear it, I say it! (I also say "Sir" - both of them often
>>>>in the courtroom).
>>>
>>>I've been thinking about that. I always use "ma'am" with respect. And I
>>>often use "sir" with respect. But sometimes I use "sir" as a means of
>>>providing distance or separation.
>>
>>That's what "respecting negative face" is all about.
>>
>>There's also been nice (if dated) work on "ma'am" vs. "dear",
>>"honey", and other terms of endearment (between strangers in
>>commercial exchanges), most notably an old (1980) paper by Wolfson &
>>Manes, "Don't 'Dear' Me" (in S. McConnell-Ginet et al. (eds.), Women
>>and Language in Literature and Society, 79-92.  New York: Praeger),
>>which explores age, sex, and regional differences (New England vs.
>>Southern U.S.) in the choice of terms of address.  Don't know if
>>there's been any follow-up since.
>>
>>Larry
>
>I just put a grad student onto that article; he wants to see how people
>address restaurant and shop people.  As I recall, the article was
>particularly concerned with men "dearing" waitresses--oops, servers.

Right; class is another variable, along with age, sex, and region.  I
also liked the discussion of how the terms of address shift along
with impatience (when the customer is being particularly obtuse, in
the eyes of the worker).

L