boy, dear

   This expression is associated by many people in Britain with older actors, who seem to use it rather frequently. It may be the masculine equivalent of the theatrical darling, which is used to disguise the fact that someone’s name has been forgotten. Support for this view comes from a non-actor, the journalist Philip Howard, who wrote in The Times (20 April 1987): The most daunting introduction for those of us who are nominally forgetful is for a complete stranger to come up and say: ‘Hullo. You’re Philip Howard, aren’t you? Do you remember me? There is no satisfactory answer to that which does not sound rude. Which is why some of us use the vocatives ‘dear boy’, ‘dear girl’, and ‘old thing’ more than seems necessary to those who have good memories for names. The last appellation should be used only to those under 30.