A women's poll

[morostheos]

I think if the phrase came from someone who commonly referred to women as 'dame' I would take it as a compliment. If some random guy came up and said, "hey, you're a classy dame." it would be strange, but probably not still offensive to me.

[tinytherese]

"Classy dame" sounds so 1920's, which I don't like. I wouldn't be offended (unless it was in a sexual harassment way) but I like dame better than babe.

[TotusTuusMaria]

not offensive to me.

[HisChildForever]

I voted "yes."

Edited April 20, 2009 by HisChildForever

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' post='832047' date='Dec 20 2005, 06:39 PM']Is 'broad' preferred?[/quote]

Actually no. The word "broad" was used by butchers to describe a piece of meat with a hole in it. Some people use "dame" and "broad" interchangeably.

[Slappo]

dame |dām|
noun
1 ( Dame) (in the UK) the title given to a woman equivalent to the rank of knight.
• a woman holding this title.
2 informal a woman.
• archaic or humorous an elderly or mature woman.
ORIGIN Middle English (denoting a female ruler): via Old French from Latin domina ‘mistress.’


I guess to me it would be on the same par as "classy fellow"
I think it's kind of old fashioned, but I like that about it . You never hear men referred to as dapper these days either, but whenever I am called dapper I always take it as a huge compliment just because of the rarity of it.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='Slappo' post='1841085' date='Apr 20 2009, 12:06 AM']dame |dām|
noun
1 ( Dame) (in the UK) the title given to a woman equivalent to the rank of knight.
• a woman holding this title.
2 informal a woman.
• archaic or humorous an elderly or mature woman.
ORIGIN Middle English (denoting a female ruler): via Old French from Latin domina ‘mistress.’


I guess to me it would be on the same par as "classy fellow"
I think it's kind of old fashioned, but I like that about it . You never hear men referred to as dapper these days either, but whenever I am called dapper I always take it as a huge compliment just because of the rarity of it.[/quote]

Dictionary.com includes "Slang. Sometimes Offensive."

Edited April 20, 2009 by HisChildForever

[Luigi]

When I was four years old, my dad was in a musical ("South Pacific") in the chorus that sang "There is Nothing Like a Dame." I asked him what a dame was. He siad, "It's a woman" but then a second or two later he added, "But never call your mother a dame."

Same rule applies here. If you wouldn't call your mother an X, don't apply it to anyone else.

[VoTeckam]

I can't understand how, in the example given, this could be offensive. Dame is actually a compliment. Ask Judy Dench

[MissyP89]

Depends on who it was. A creeper? Yes. A true gentleman? No. If it were Phil, I'd probably ask him what he wanted.

[BG45]

I wouldn't call you that.