The Power of "a"

Waitresses always call me hon’...or sweetie. “What can I get you hon’?” “How are we doing to today, sweetie?” I don’t know why, but it feels a little condescending to me. It’s like the equivalent of saying “lady” to a woman. They hate that don’t they? The funny thing is, simply add the letter “a” before it and everything is fine. Call a woman “lady” and watch out. Call a woman “a lady” and she’s complimented.

The opposite is true for sshole. If you call someone sshole, they’re like “Hey, that’s innocuous. Cool.” Add an “a” too that though and they get pissed off. Weird.
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