"Ladies and Gentlemen" - what might come next? This is a salutation to an audience of some sort. It started off as gentlemen and gentlewomen - that was around 1586 to 1591.
This was an expression of flattery - implying the audience is of higher social status. Gentlemen referred to a man (in the 1500s) who didn't have to work for a living - particularly doing labour. They would therefore be of a higher social standing. A gentlewoman had standing in their own right, so the expression became ladies - who were the 'wife of' someone, and also someone of noble birth or background.
The twentieth century demolished all of the notions of the term ladies with the waves of feminism, impacting culture and politics. Lady became a pejorative term, and re-emerged in subversive representations in names like Lady Gaga. The same is true of gentleman. It too has been destabilized as an expression of superior standing in society.
An expression that came into popularity was 'The Guy'. It comes from the Latin Guido, made famous in Britain by Guy Fawkes. Did you know that the celebration of Bonfire Night in the UK included clothed effigies of straw named 'guys' who are thrown into the bonfire? This is supposedly still done today (well there still re bonfires). The term guy became associated with shabby dress or strange appearance, and was meant to ridicule or insult. By the 20th century it became a casual term. It still had gender associations, so with the waves of feminism, it has been cast off having failed to make gender-neutral replacement.
Hence the term 'everyone'. General, inclusive, vague of sexuality. Now we ask is is "Hello everyone" or is it "Hello to everyone" or could we use "Hello everybody". That's our public address question today.
There are expressions with 'everyone' in them like everyone and his uncle. Are there jokes about everyone and his uncle? No. Instead I found jokes that everyonelaugh at. There's a guy in this one.
A preacher dies, and when he gets to Heaven, he sees a New York cab driver who is wearing a better robe and staff. He says to an angel, "I don't get it. I devoted my whole life to my congregation."The angel says, "We reward results. Did your congregation always pay attention when you gave a sermon?"
The preacher says, "Once in a while someone fell asleep."
The angel says, "Right. And when people rode in this guy's taxi, they not only stayed awake, but they usually prayed!"
Isn't this an amazing picture? It is the ceiling of the above-ground walkway between the Eaton's Centre and The Bay/Simpsons. I took this picture in Toronto in January when I checked out Eataly.
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