girl, old

   Used affectionately to a woman of any age. The ‘old’ refers to friendly familiarity. In The Dream of Fair Women, by Henry Williamson, it is used by an English army officer to his young wife. In The Needle, by Francis King, a brother uses it to his adult sister, equating it with ‘sweetie’. In Brothers in Law, by Henry Cecil, it is used as an intimacy on nine occasions. Doctor at Sea, by Richard Gordon, has it used in a similar way. In Georgy Girl, by Margaret Forster, it is merely friendly, as it is in The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene and A Kind of Loving, by Stan Barstow. In Henry’s War, by Jeremy Brooks, the context makes it clear that ‘old girl’ is unfriendly. A woman has just been told: ‘I don’t know who you are, young woman, nor what you’re doing here, but you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.’ The girl concerned replies: ‘And I don’t know who you are, old girl, or what the hell right you’ve got to come busting in here, but I do know you’re the rudest person I’ve met in ten years.’ The conversation demonstrates how both ‘old’ and ‘young’ can be used almost as insults.