daddy-o

   An amiable term of address to a man of the speaker’s own age or older. Used to both strangers and friends, both in Britain and the USA, though British speakers are probably imitating American usage. The Late Risers, by Bernard Wolfe, has the term being used by one black American to another, after the latter has addressed him as ‘Poppa’. In Comfort me with Apples, by Peter de Vries, the use of ‘daddy-o’ between American men is not especially friendly. It has more warmth when used by a young man to an older man in Absolute Beginners, by Colin MacInnes, and it is friendly again in Georgy Girl, by Margaret Forster.