Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

General plural vocatives

117c

General plural vocatives (e.g. folks, everyone/everybody, children, boys, lads, girls,

guys

, ladies, gentlemen) are used to address groups:

What are you planning to do tonight, 

folks?

Children, could you all pay attention please.

[announcement at a conference lecture]

Everybody, could you all hand in your evaluations as you leave, please.

Impersonal vocatives

117d

Someone/somebody

can be used as an impersonal vocative to summon any one of

a known group of people:

Answer the door, 

someone! I’m in the bathroom.

Honorifics

117e

Honorifics such as sir or madam are respectful and deferential. They most

commonly occur in service encounters. Sir and miss are generally used to address

male and female school teachers (but not teachers in higher education):

[in a shop]

What can I get you, 

madam?

[in a school classroom, to the teacher]

Sir, he won’t let me finish the experiment.

230 | From discourse to social contexts

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Sir

and madam are rare as vocatives in British English outside of service

situations. Male strangers may be addressed as mate, but this does project a high

degree of informality and should be used with care:

Excuse me, 

mate, do you know where Parton Street is?

There is no equivalent accepted term for addressing a female stranger, though love

(often written as luv) is sometimes used in this way. However, many women object

to this use of love or (my) dear as patronising or sexist.

Calling people by the name of their occupation is less common and depends on

the social status of the occupation. Some which do occur include doctor (medical),

driver

, nurse, minister, officer, waiter:

[passenger to bus driver]

Can you let me off here please, 

driver.

[radio interview with a government minister]

Now, 

minister, how would you explain this to the electorate? 

Excuse me, 

waiter, sorry, could we have some more water, please?