When strangers call you:

i hate when someone I don't know calls me any of those... It always comes across as fake and douchey.

Thoughts?

amen, brother

Where I come from 'mate' is generally par for the course with people you don't know very well or at all but are being nice to; shop assistants, new acquaintances etc as well as old friends, although it can be said in the wrong way. Friend/buddy/brother I don't think you could use, buddy has a sort of aggressive undertone to it sometimes.

A barman called me 'big man' the other day and I thought it came across quite well. The barmaid was being nice but she called me 'sweetheart' and I found it condescending. It's swings and roundabouts.

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:08 PM, Coalbucket PI said:

A barman called me 'big man' the other day

I get that one a lot. Living in the Southeastern U.S. I am used to the familiar phrases like that as it is very common.

Anybody who uses the words "bro" or "brother", I always wan't to smack in the face.

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:03 PM, Dropp said:

amen, brother

Oops.

word up nigga

irl, i probably wouldn't like it.. on wattem... fair game

Big man would definitely piss me off. Same with sweetheart or darling, or honey.

Also people who uses the word "champ" are incredibly annoying.

"guy"

If someone on the street calls me mate I check to see if they're scanning my bod for my wallet pocket.

If there's a labourer of some sorts on the premises and he calls me mate I immediately leave the house for several hours.

Mate is a word that my friends and I never ever called each other. Just feels weird. There were a few people that I didn't see that much of for the university years and they came back dropping mate into sentences. I haven't told them to stop, but I don't like it one bit.

nothing really sets me off like being condescendingly called something like "sweetie" or "honey." especially if it is preceded or followed by "you should smile more."

i will KILL

I call everyone mate.

Kid is probably the worst Id say.

I can think of a worse one, champ.

I've got one even worse than that: champ.

My barbers shop is called 'Fella' and when you phone them up they answer the phone 'Hello, Fella'

It always serves some kind of function. It gets fake when the function is incongruent with the person/context. Most of the time it's just social oil. And when meeting strangers, oil is mostly a good thing, i think.

dude

Some guy I've never seen before said sup' boss? Just as we passed eachother in the hallway of my workplace. I stared at him, bewildered, like a deer caught in headlights. Boss? I don't fucking know what to say to that. Probably sup'?

Aight boss

social oil. i like that. interactive lube.

also... mucka, china, squire, chief, shagger, my friend

yassa boss

i will cop to calling everyone dude regardless of gender

i think that probably makes people think less of me more than it pisses them off tho so

I get fucktard or twat mainly. Although I prefer wankstain.

i can write dude but i can't really bring myself to say it unless i'm bill and tedding it up...

it's surprising how often sales rep's call and go "alright mate/pal/buddy/man how you doing?". far too over familiar. it's an automatic 'fuck right off!' in our office.

An even worse one is "champ"

I say "dude" all the time