I tend to lose track of the ever-growing list of things that Broadsheet writers insist we feminists should be offended by. As a GIRL in my late twenties I was unaware that this seemingly innocuous and, to my mind, rather neutral word has become an inappropriate term. I'll try to keep up in the future.

Why donchya scootch that hot little ass in the back and cut me off a piece of that pie? Thanks darlin.

In conversation, I often refer to other women as gals, which feels warm and informal to me. For instance, if I'm telling someone about my son-in-law's mom, I'm apt to say she's a great gal.

That ought to be the standard. Anything more stringent than that is just PC overindulgence.

This is one of my pet peeves at work, where a couple of my male coworkers ALWAYS refer to ALL women as "girls", no matter their age or position, and no matter the context. Including women coworkers old enough to be their mothers!

I had pointed this out to them many times, but the thing that has had the biggest impact was when I started to refer to male coworkers as "boys." ("you know that boy over in accounting, that gets our finance report...")

The biggest offender protested that it was an unfair term, that it should be "girls" and "guys." And I disagreed, saying "boys" was the emotional equivalent of calling grown women "girls." And that "guys" actually paired up (to me, anyway) with "gals."

Please - stop whining. You sound like a petulant little girl.

I think the overuse of the world girl is due to the fact that its often used to replace the word "guy". I don't use the word men that often either. I'd go with "gals" but I get strange looks when I try that one out.

I agree that calling adult females girls in a work setting is generally a no-no.

I don't see how it's much different from calling men 'the boys' or suchlike. Granted, there are times when people can use the term to be condescending, but for the most part I consider it just a slang of familiarity.

I'm a man, and I often have to consciously censor my use of "girl," when referring to a woman. I agree that my choice of words depends a lot on context, but I will say this -- "girl" just sounds prettier. I never want to use the word woman, because the word has a masculine, off-putting color for me. There are only a few cases where "woman" rolls off the tongue. It's not that "girl" connotes anything for me -- it does not reduce the stature of the women I meet, nor does it infantalize them. Woman's just like giving a woman a lot of muscles and a beard (something I only desire on occasion).

Semantics is hard... Words change their meanings, gain new implications because of the contexts in which they are often used, may shine or not. A famous linguist I read once compared language utterances -- words, sentences, whatever -- to the first sketch of a painting made by a famous artist: you look at it and you can see what topic the painter wants to paint, but when you see the final painting, it looks so remarkably beautiful and expressive, while the first sketch was so childish and incomplete. He said the difference between the sketch and the painting is like the difference between linguistic utterances and what we really understand when we hear them. The added context, our world knowledge, pragmatics... they give life to the mere skeleton that words build.

When soldiers talk about 'being one of the boys,' that's a good thing. 'Hurry up boys!' says the coach to the team. But if a White calls a Black man 'boy,' that's a remnant of the worse racism of yesteryear.

'Lady' is a famous case in linguistics--so frequently used by those who wanted to show respect and flatter women that it seems to mean pretty much the same as 'woman' these days. Compare it with the masculine 'lord,' which still keeps the original meaning. Sometimes wanting to show deference and respect too automatically leads to meaning simply bleaching away...

So it is with 'girl.' Like 'boy,' I think it tends to highlight the playful, child-like side of a person; and since adults do have it (thank god(dess)!), highlighting it can be a compliment, in the appropriate context. Or it can be offensive--just like the word 'childish' itself. I don't find 'girl' or 'boy' offensive, even when applied to adults; I think they can--like all words (including woman, lady, Ms. ...)--be used to offend. It's not in the words, it's in the intention. (Which is why I'm not sure Ms. Harding's father is to blame for calling cashiers 'girls' -- unless he really means something offensive, rather than simply 'endearing,' when he does that. Usually the tone of voice -- say, angry if offensive -- should give a better cue.)

a gathering of males as "ladies"????

Your a BABY, not even a girl. GET OVER YOURSELF! Your story made me want to gag. People refer to men as boys all the time. "The boys are out playing football," says a group of women at a company party.

Don't you have anything better to do? Focus on real sexism, for example??? Like Hillary being kicked out of the election for being a woman??!!!

GAG GAG GAG. Its girls like you that make we boys think of feminists as crazy bitch"s on the war path.

I use girl as a friendly, affectionate term. Even if you work with women, youre not allowed to be friends with them??? What if the gals don't mind and like being treated special by the boys?

Go look for a bridge to jump off of.

The problem with language is that often times there just isn't a word to capture what you are trying to convey. Simple enough. I am a 45 year old male manager at a company. Many many times I've refered to a 20 year old "male" I work with as a "guy." "Gee, honey, I interviewed the nicest guy today. . . a 20 year old grad of Harvard. Nice guy. . . ." Of course no one would blink an eye. But then "Gee honey, I interviewed a nice girl today . . . " and I get my head handed to me as a sexist pig, obnoxious guy, etc.

Yo tell me how I am supposed to refer to the 20 year old I just interviewed today. A young lady? A young woman? A woman? A female? C'mon. None of these work and you know it.

Why as a society do we keep getting hung up in these meaningless ridiculous word games?