I got called a lady an awful lot last week.
Because it was half term & there were a lot of young children about - with a parent who cared about teaching them manners. So quite often they needed to have it pointed out to them that they should be careful, look where they were going, move aside, make way for the lady to pass by.
Funny this thing about words for ladies – there simply is none which can be used with perfect neutrality in all circumstances. I think I would have bridled if anyone told a child to let ‘the woman’ get past.
And everybody still wants to be a lady, at least at some level.
During the summer of my second birthday I had a passion for trying to get away, out of the house, although it was nearly bed time.
One day I managed to get out through the front door while mummy was seeing to the running of my bath.
I was naked.
When mummy asked why I had taken my red plastic handbag with me, I said scornfully that it was, of course, because Nana always said that a lady never goes out without her handbag.
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