The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-07-16
and Lady.

The number of questions asked says
Turner's Ba.Gr, on the subject of the
proper use OF the familiar words lady and
woman. induces the reflection that the
woman question i one which rivals IN
uniyeral interest those of Nlhilism. Irish
rebellion and the future presidency. A
rose bv any other name would smell as
sweet, but ii Is Of importance to those
who speak Of her, because by their speech
.'shal! ye know them" whether fashion
able or questionable, whether old or
Young whether well-bred or Ill bred,
whether stylish or hopelessly rocco!
Nothing, for instance, can be IN worse
taste than TO say 'she is a beautiful lady,
or "a clever lady" One should always
say beautiful woman, clever woman.
The would be genteel make this mistake
constantly, and in the Rosa Matilda style
Of novel the gentleman always kneels TO
the lady.
Now it would tie easy enough to correct
this il we could only tell our correspon-
dents always to use the word woman.
But, unfortunately, we are here constrain-
ed to gay hat would be equally bad
FORM No gentleman would say, II am
travelling with women" He would say,
Il am travelling with ladies' He would
not say, when | want to a k my wo-
men to the theatre" He would say,
when | want to take my ladies'" He
would speak of his daughters as young
ladies' etc., etc. But ii he were writ
ting a novel about these same young Ia
dies he would avoid the word lady as
feeble, and inspeaking Of emotions, looks
qualities, etc., he would use the word
woman.
Therefore, as a grand generic distinc-
ton, we can say that woman should be
used when the realities of life and charac-
ter are treated of. Lady" should be
used to express the outside characters.
ties, the conditions of cultivated society
aud the respectful, distant and chivalric
etiquette which society claims for women
when members thereof.
Then our querist may ask why Is the
term, ''she is a beautiful lady," SO hope
iessly out Of style? Why does it betray
that the speaker has not lived in a fash
ionable set? Why must we say nice
woman clever woman" beautiful
woman," etc.
The only answer to this is that the
latter phraseology is a caprice of fashion
into which plain spoken people were
driven by the Alterations of the shabby
genteel and half-instructed persons who
have ruined two good words for us by
misappIication. One is ''genteel. which
means gentle, and the other is ''lady,
which means everything which is refined,
cultivated, elegant and arlstocratic.
We might almost say that no women
talk to men about ''~gentlemen." and no
men talk to women about ladies', In
fashionable society. A N in good
society speaks of the hunting men, and
dancing men, the talking men. She does
not say gentleman" unless in some
such connection as this, mo gentleman
would do such a thing" if some breach
of etiquette had occurred. And yet no
man would come into a lady's drawing
room saying, Where are the girls? p or
''Where are the women" He would
say, "Where are the young ladies p
1t therefore requires a fine ear and a
fine sense of modern fashion and Of eter-
nal propriety always to choose the right
word in the delicate ana almost unsettled
estate of these two epithets. Lady
like can never 90 out Of fashion. 1t is
at once a compliment OF the highest order
and a suggestion of subtle perfection.
The word woman does not reach up
to this, because in its broad and strong
etymology it may mean a washerwoman,
a fighting woman, a coarse woman, alas /!
a drunken woman.