I have always tried to understand the use of the word handsome in letter to a lady friend, but refrained from doing so, because i didn't know whether the word would be a thoughtful gesture or insulting And here's some background on milord I have heard from many that the use of beautiful for a guy, when said by a woman, was also considered less than being referred to as handsome, but this one handsome/beautiful woman said just.
A lady bought 280 feet of rope It is the female form of milord If she cut the rope into 8 pieces that were equal in length, how long is one piece of rope
Gentleman retains connotations of respect that lady has largely lost, so is there a current conversational way of referring to a female customer that does carry those connotations more strongly than lady The answer may be no but that doesn't make it a bad question. A young lady walks home from a friend's house After 2 minutes she is 0.8 miles from home
After 12 minutes she is 0.3 miles from home What is her walking speed in miles per hour And for females?@rbhattarai sometimes real lady means having female organs in addition to identifying as female Pretty much anything involving gender is a wide, deep and densely packed minefield of mixed meanings (and extreme sensitivity to vicariously perceived slights)
From all the answers, it's clear that using a masculine term (eg guys) is considered sexist (see leopd's comment), and using a feminine term (eg gals) is also considered sexist (see the raven's answer) Of course, if you use guys for males and people for females, you're just reintroducing a distinction A damsel implies a young lady of noble birth or a maiden The male equivalent of a damoiselle in french is damoiseau
And damoiseau has an entry in both the oed and wiktionary To damoisel, damsel.] a young man of gentle. If you are wondering why we don't write ladies's, it is because ladies is one of the exceptions, along with girls', parents', players', weeks' and even klingons' it can get a bit niggly with names too Aristophanes' plays, but jesus's miracles and (usually) james.
Yes, milady comes from my lady Milady (from my lady) is an english term of address to a noble woman