I have always known that U.S. society would meltdown because "the experiment," as it exists is, an unsustainable model. But imagining and experiencing an event are two entirely different things.
That is a LOT to bite off 'n chew. Anybody coming after me, I recommend sticking with it. I end up going back to the beginning, to lessons from the Ghetto. I had an initial, cumulative gut reflection that a person "internalizing" those experiences would incorporate a lot of self-confidence and self-respect. This would be contrary to the rules I experienced as a white middle-class female Baby-Boomer. I particularly could have benefitted from ##s 1, 6, and 8. I was emphatically conditioned to respect and admire, and be intimidated by, people who despised my father and myself with dogmatic and irrational arbitrariness. This was fully participated in by my mother, in line with her family. I humbly share that after I at least became conscious of the injustice, from time to time I have privately characterized the role of myself and my father in this authoritarian dynamic as being the designated "ni----rs" of the family. But I didn't have Ghetto rules to build me up. I duly despised my (white, of course!) father as my mother taught me, and soaked up the mantra that I was a "lazy bum" just like him. (He wasn't!) I think it is pretty well recognized that white authoritarians 1) need scapegoats, and 2) are compulsively suspicious of anybody they identify as "too smart." (The culture war on the "Ivory Tower" is perennial, and tangled up with AntiSemitism. Nobody in my world was Jewish, but the raw "too smart" meme was definitely operative.) Now at age 71, I am entranced particularly by the confidence and assertiveness of black WOMEN. I often find myself thinking some version of, that lady got all my guts, and then some! I was definitely not allowed to have any guts, and cringe to this day when anybody, no matter how kindly, calls me "young lady." Do they say that in the Ghetto? In my world, "Young Lady" definitely meant "sit down and shut up." Jasmine Crockett is my goddess!
"Young Lady" is, indeed a colloquialism used by Black People in the United States just as it is everyone else. Be mindful that "the ghetto" is not, necessarily, synonymous with Black existence in the United States. For instance, my father grew up in a rural town in Southeast Kansas. He joined the Marines to get away from that environment where everyone knows everyone and everyone else's business. Graduate from the only high school in town, impregnate some chick, get married work at the local smelter or railroad and watch the same thing repeat itself for generations. I am not, at all, inferring that there is anything wrong with that but it was not for him.
So, he through his military service ends up in Southern California, enters the aerospace business and the concrete jungle cometh. I simply did not want you to either patronize nor stereotype because I attended the best schools money could buy. Michael Lookinland (Bobby Brady) and I were junior high school buddies and stayed knee deep in mischief. I use to rehearse in the Band Room at lunch with Ronnie Turner (Ike and Tina's son) and our teacher was John Magruder https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-apr-26-me-magruder26-story.html. My very first girlfriend was O.C. Smith's daughter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._C._Smith. I have sat at Cher's kitchen table, knew Conrad Hilton (I was but a boy and he had to have been 100...or close) and have been in Joan Rivers (when she was alive) "safe room."
Pardon my digression but you must realize that I have lived a very, very unusual life as there is no other thing that could have produced me.
Back to the term "young lady." Language is often a thing of not just words but interpretation. In general when I use the term "young lady" it is a term of endearment as is the case with its usage among many in my demographic. Sometimes it is less what is being said that gives it meaning, it is who is saying it that gives it meaning.
You're in trouble now! (Not!) No, the reason the phrase has interested me down thru the years is that I recognized the disconnect between my reflexive negative reaction and the common casual social "teasing." I had an encounter with a totally sweet guy in a store today, and of course there's another level since you can't mistake me for young! I was happy that it didn't bother me. Still, does anybody ever say "young gentleman?" I think the usage is almost always "Young Man." I think the "lady" has a "be submissive" color that "man" lacks. Just common phrases....
Food for Thought;Rohn, I can't remember the last time I've read a piece quite like yours? and I thank you for the Jolt. Before I go to sleep tonight, I Had to acknowledge via this medium how much you've moved me?! May I touch base tomorrow? simply astounding ...
That is a LOT to bite off 'n chew. Anybody coming after me, I recommend sticking with it. I end up going back to the beginning, to lessons from the Ghetto. I had an initial, cumulative gut reflection that a person "internalizing" those experiences would incorporate a lot of self-confidence and self-respect. This would be contrary to the rules I experienced as a white middle-class female Baby-Boomer. I particularly could have benefitted from ##s 1, 6, and 8. I was emphatically conditioned to respect and admire, and be intimidated by, people who despised my father and myself with dogmatic and irrational arbitrariness. This was fully participated in by my mother, in line with her family. I humbly share that after I at least became conscious of the injustice, from time to time I have privately characterized the role of myself and my father in this authoritarian dynamic as being the designated "ni----rs" of the family. But I didn't have Ghetto rules to build me up. I duly despised my (white, of course!) father as my mother taught me, and soaked up the mantra that I was a "lazy bum" just like him. (He wasn't!) I think it is pretty well recognized that white authoritarians 1) need scapegoats, and 2) are compulsively suspicious of anybody they identify as "too smart." (The culture war on the "Ivory Tower" is perennial, and tangled up with AntiSemitism. Nobody in my world was Jewish, but the raw "too smart" meme was definitely operative.) Now at age 71, I am entranced particularly by the confidence and assertiveness of black WOMEN. I often find myself thinking some version of, that lady got all my guts, and then some! I was definitely not allowed to have any guts, and cringe to this day when anybody, no matter how kindly, calls me "young lady." Do they say that in the Ghetto? In my world, "Young Lady" definitely meant "sit down and shut up." Jasmine Crockett is my goddess!
"Young Lady" is, indeed a colloquialism used by Black People in the United States just as it is everyone else. Be mindful that "the ghetto" is not, necessarily, synonymous with Black existence in the United States. For instance, my father grew up in a rural town in Southeast Kansas. He joined the Marines to get away from that environment where everyone knows everyone and everyone else's business. Graduate from the only high school in town, impregnate some chick, get married work at the local smelter or railroad and watch the same thing repeat itself for generations. I am not, at all, inferring that there is anything wrong with that but it was not for him.
So, he through his military service ends up in Southern California, enters the aerospace business and the concrete jungle cometh. I simply did not want you to either patronize nor stereotype because I attended the best schools money could buy. Michael Lookinland (Bobby Brady) and I were junior high school buddies and stayed knee deep in mischief. I use to rehearse in the Band Room at lunch with Ronnie Turner (Ike and Tina's son) and our teacher was John Magruder https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-apr-26-me-magruder26-story.html. My very first girlfriend was O.C. Smith's daughter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._C._Smith. I have sat at Cher's kitchen table, knew Conrad Hilton (I was but a boy and he had to have been 100...or close) and have been in Joan Rivers (when she was alive) "safe room."
Pardon my digression but you must realize that I have lived a very, very unusual life as there is no other thing that could have produced me.
Back to the term "young lady." Language is often a thing of not just words but interpretation. In general when I use the term "young lady" it is a term of endearment as is the case with its usage among many in my demographic. Sometimes it is less what is being said that gives it meaning, it is who is saying it that gives it meaning.
More for you to "chew" on, young lady:)
You're in trouble now! (Not!) No, the reason the phrase has interested me down thru the years is that I recognized the disconnect between my reflexive negative reaction and the common casual social "teasing." I had an encounter with a totally sweet guy in a store today, and of course there's another level since you can't mistake me for young! I was happy that it didn't bother me. Still, does anybody ever say "young gentleman?" I think the usage is almost always "Young Man." I think the "lady" has a "be submissive" color that "man" lacks. Just common phrases....
Food for Thought;Rohn, I can't remember the last time I've read a piece quite like yours? and I thank you for the Jolt. Before I go to sleep tonight, I Had to acknowledge via this medium how much you've moved me?! May I touch base tomorrow? simply astounding ...
Of course. I worship my readers and, no matter what, will always acknowledge them.