very minor note on "lady"

[victor steinbok]

This is not meant as any kind of meaningful addition to the story, but
there is a bit of cross-cultural irony here, if one were to look into
Russian phrasing.

No "lady", but a polite familiar form of address (as opposed to
"formal") to one's senior is usually the same words as "uncle" and
"aunt". For someone particularly young addressing someone who is not
familiar, particularly with a request (e.g., asking for directions),
the form becomes diminutive, but with the same base. To politely
address someone who is considered old--this is more of an absolute
measure, but also includes the same relative component--one would use
the diminutive for "grandpa" and "grandma". But informal and often
less polite version of addressing an old man would be the equivalent
of "grandfather", except that it's monosyllabic. For either a
fraternal address or for an impolite address to an older man, you can
just say the equivalent of "old man". To address a woman as "old
woman" ([starukha]) is close to insulting.

As I was just thinking about it, in light of this exchange, I only now
realized how incredibly counterintuitive these connections are.

VS-)

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 1:00 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 8:07 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thus, "auntie," as directed by whites toward older black women, seems to
>> have originated as a neutral, even affable, usage. (I almost said "polite,"
>> but let's not get carried away.)
>>
>
> My WAG is that "aunt, uncle" were probably rgarded as sarcasm, when
> applied to black women. I agree that, in the older usage, it was
> clearly meant to be deferential. But "Aunt Jemima" and uncles "Ben"
> and "Remus" were definitely in the serving class.
>
>
> --
> -Wilson

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