Another kind of buddy

[Mark Mandel]

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!

I think I use the "Hey, NOUN" prologue to get the person's attention before
the actual content. To a woman I tend to use "ma'am" or "Miss".

(Grew up in the 1950s and 60s in New York City and environs.)

-- Mark
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]


On 6/13/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Re ordinary "buddy."  It's still widely used in Tennessee in the vocative
> by friendly blue-collar types, esp. those over forty.  But only if you're
> not really buddies. To address someone as "buddy" if you're already buddies
> would be unusual.
>
>   And the more you did it, the more "unusual" it would be.
>
>
>

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