I was talking to a friend online who is several years younger than me and I met, coincidentally, in a gym class. He was telling me about all of his great plans to meet "chicks", score with "chicks", watch "chicks" dance, and play beer pong with "chicks". After a couple of minutes of reading his non-stop stream of IMs, I interrupted and asked him if he though he would get more "chicks" by calling them something a little more female friendly. "Like what?" He asked.
That got me thinking that I had a student in Chile (who had a very cushy job in a big bank) who would always refer to women as "chicks" as well. On many occasions, I was tempted to correct him, but he was just so earnest about it and I found his misinformation sort of cute and I just couldn't correct him.
So, I pose the question, is it derogatory to call a grown woman a "chick" if you are a college sophomore? How about a Chilean businessman learning English?
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Short answer: yes.
Long answer: Sort of. But mostly yes. In some ways, I think that to call women chicks is like African Americans calling themselves the n-word. That is, women calling other women chicks is less derogatory than when men do it, but there still is an element of degradation in calling women chicks, no matter who is doing the calling.
Though I do admit, I don't often use "chick" in a non-derogatory way. I'm much more likely to use it in a phrase such as: "That chick just cut me off, the b*tch!"
Less derogatory words for women: girls, ladies, women. I'd prefer any of those over "chick."
True. I only use "chick" when I'm pissed off at something some chick did. Oh, look... I just did it. Oopsies.
haha.
In the future, do you think that you'd correct your ESL students from using the word chick to describe a woman? I know that it is used here, but I wonder if there are women who might actually take offense to being called that.
Hi Language Nerds, can I play?
In light of all the horrible, really nasty words I hear for women, I think "chick" is one of the least offensive. With all the "bitches" and "ho's" (and worse) in music and movies, "chick" starts to sound sweet. Living in Mexico, hearing "chica" and "chiquita" may have softened it for me, or perhaps in my old age the idea of being called a "chick" has become more appealing than "hey lady" or "señora".
Though I suppose if I heard "Who's the old chick?", I might take offense. :)
As far as my students go (I teach ESL too), I would explain the cultural significance and that it is a very informal way to address a woman and share with them the more polite ways to refer to the babes. ;-)
Of course you can! We'd love to hear any input or insight that you may have.
You do make a good point. Given the choice between "bitch," "ho," or "chick," being called "chick" does sound more appealing. I think would still find it annoying to be called a "chick" by an adult native English speaker of the male gender - it just seems immature. But that is just my own opinion. I think I would make more allowances for non-native English speakers - like Sara said, it could just be misinformation.
By the way, does anyone think it's possible that the term "chick" could be derived from "chica" ? It makes me wonder how the word "chick" came into the language in the first place...
Cancuncanuck- You are probably a better teacher than me. I just sort of giggled on the inside whenever he would say that. I probably should have explained it like you said.
Sara, "better" is probably not accurate, I prefer "different", we've all got our ways to get the point across. I had a bit of a teacher no-no moment today, trying to explain the expression "What on earth!?". I simply said "You know, it's like "what the f$#k", you've heard that one in movies for sure." :)
My boss would so kill me for that one.
i love the "what on earth?" moment.
"chick" is just one of those cultural euphemisms that you just can't stick a hard rule to, thus making it nigh unto impossible to explain.
ya just kind of gotta know when to use it.
the IM guy would have been especially annoying. isn't it interesting that one can make or break their coolness, simply by being stupid with word and IM?
Actually a non-derogatory slang term for the word girl. This word was probably a spanglish derivative from the spanish word "chica" meaning, of all things, girl.
why do people seem to do their best to feel offended by everything, lighten up chicks
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