son

   This is used by parents to their son, and sometimes, preserving a practice that was common in Shakespeare’s time, to their son-in-law. In The Merry Wives of Windsor Page says: ‘Come, son Slender’ to Abraham Slender, his prospective son-in-law, but this may not have been general seventeenth-century usage.

   ‘Son’ is frequently used by a person old enough to be a parent to a boy or young man who has no family connection. It is also used by religious, especially as ‘my son’, when addressing younger men. In modern times it is also frequently used between friendly males of almost equal age. In Britain on any Saturday afternoon footballers can be heard congratulating team-members with ‘Well done, my son.’ A popular variant for friendly use is ‘old son’.

   In certain circumstances, when used to an adult, there may be a hint of condescension connected with ‘son’. In David Ballantyne’s short story And the Glory, a shop assistant, who is obliged to address the floor-walker as Mr Myers, is addressed in return by his surname and by ‘son’. There is the comment: ‘Annoyed at the way Myers spoke, especially at being called son, Larry attended to the customers.’

   As an element in vocative expressions beginning with ‘you’, ‘son’ can be made insulting by referring to the parents. ‘You son of a bitch’ is probably the most frequently used example, but in The Trumpet Major, by Thomas Hardy, Festus Derriman calls John Loveday, son of Miller Loveday, ‘you dirty miller’s son’, adding for good measure, ‘you flourworm, you smut in the corn’. Pudd’nhead Wilson, by Mark Twain, has ‘you base son of a most noble father’ used as an insult by the uncle of the young man to whom it is addressed.

   ‘Son’ on its own is objected to by the young American to whom it is addressed in War Brides, by Lois Battle. The speaker is his father, but his reaction on hearing himself called ‘son’ is to think: ‘Don’t call me “son.” I’m not your son anymore.’