Referring to "she"?

Question

Why do we say "she's the cat's grandmother" when someone refers to another in their presence as "she"? Maybe it's just a local thing but my mother always used to correct me and said it was rude to refer to someone as "she". Does anyone know where this comes from? Just out of interest.

Answer 1

Simply put, it is rude. These pronouns imply that the person is not a part of the conversation. Imagine you are in a room with two other people. The two people are referring to you as "she". For instance, "she was supposed to go to the store, but she didn't. I guess she isn't reliable." That is constructed to distance you from the conversation. The use of "she" rather than "you" means that you are not an active participant in the conversation. In many contexts, this can be considered condescending - as though you are incapable of participating.

Answer 2

My Parent's have the same thing.

Saying it's rude to refer to someone as "He" or "She"in their presence.

Depending on where your parents are from it could have a lot to do with culture.

For example in germany referring to someone as "Sie " is considered rude.

The urdu language has the same thing with a few words.

Although the english language does not have these words in a disrespectful context.

People who grew up with these languages will still feel this way.

Hope this helped.

Also, sometimes it does seem a bit rude, but it only strikes me that way when someone refers to soeone highly respected as simply "He"

In this case, it's better to just refer to them by their names.

Answer 3

Not really; but my dad always corrected us anytime we referred to our mother as "she".

He felt is was disrespectful since we knew her name (mom).

He didn't care much about what we called other women but mom was not to be called "she".

Answer 4

i belive that along as you are not talking to the person but refering to them just don't point some thinks thats rude

Answer 5

Some people think it's a disrespectful usage.