Gentleman and a scholar.
Someone wrote…
Once, I held the door open for a man carrying a heavy box, and he smiled at me and said “You are a gentleman and a scholar.” The unexpectedness of this comment made me smile all day, but everyone I told about it wondered why I wasn’t offended that he used a term that implied I was male. I couldn’t tell them that his use of the word “gentleman” was exactly why I found it so delightful.
What’s your experience?
Category: your voice 7 comments »
December 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am |
Awesome! Sad tea about nobody else understanding though.
I tend to use gentleman and lady as agendered terms, relating more to behaviour at any particular time than to gender or sex.
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December 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm |
One of the best compliments ever.
@Lanthir: I wholeheartedly approve.
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December 16th, 2009 at 1:52 pm |
That’s great, really it is. :)
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December 17th, 2009 at 1:54 am |
i adore that phrase. maybe some day some one will say it to me.
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December 17th, 2009 at 8:37 pm |
Yeah, I sometimes say that although I’m now a lady, that won’t stop me acting like a gentleman.
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December 30th, 2009 at 6:35 pm |
My dad used this phrase all the time when I was growing up.
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January 6th, 2010 at 11:40 pm |
That is my very most favorite thing to be called. I had a Master awhile ago who called me that alot. She ended up being emotionally abusive, and I got the hell out of there, but there are little things I still miss, like that.
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