Dating Language: “Girl” vs “Woman”

I spend a fair amount of time reading, and every now and again I throw in a book about dating/relationship advice, just to see what sorts of theories are out there. I find that I can almost find some interesting tidbit that either makes me realize something I hadn’t realized before, or I remember a rule that I’d forgotten.

Last night I was reading a book that said guys who use the word “girl” to refer to a person of the opposite sex over 18 whom they are dating exposes the guy as immature or ignorant at best, and a chauvinist at worst (the theory here being that the guy uses the word “girl” to imply that the female in question is inferior to him).

That struck a bit of a chord with me, because I often say things like: “I dated this girl…”; “I met a great girl…”; “I know a girl who…”. For me, I guess I just don’t view myself as that old, and I think of a “woman” as someone much older than me. I was talking to a few similarly-aged females about this after having read it, and they all said they didn’t have an issue with the use of the word “girl” to describe them. In fact, one of my friends said, “My mom is a woman.” So, at least I don’t feel like I’m just an immature ignorant guy, because I know some females who were equally perplexed by this rule that women should be on the lookout for guys who use the word “girl”. I mean, I think if I were to tell my guy friends that I was dating a “woman”, they’d look at me funny and think I was dating someone significantly older than me.

So, now I’m interested. What do you all think? (I’m mostly interested in hearing the female perspective… because, let’s be honest, when it comes to such things, it doesn’t really matter what us guys think!) Is this book/author just out of touch? Is she maybe overly sensitive? Or do women really judge the men they consider dating based on their use of a word as seemingly innocuous as “girl”?

Let’s hear some of your thoughts…

One Response to “Dating Language: “Girl” vs “Woman””

1. Антон Павлович says:

   03/23/2010 at 9:54 pm

   У вас абстрактное мышление…

   I find that I can almost find some interesting tidbit that either makes me realize something I hadn’t realized before, or I remember a […….