Hello Beautiful!

As I was walking across campus this morning after my early class, a woman came towards me and was greeted by a guy coming up behind me with "Good morning, beautiful woman!" (Guten Morgen, hübsche Frau to get the nastiness in German).

I was irritated, and since the guy was waiting for an elevator I inquired of him: were you the person greeting that woman as "beautiful woman"? Yes he was, what business was it of mine?

Well, I was wondering why he chose this particular salutation that focused on her sex and not on her as a person or an engineer or a mathematician or whatever.

"She's a friend of mine and I can call her anything I want!" No, people who call me particular names will no longer be considered friends. "And it is sort of ironic." Oh, so you were being ironic? "No, not that, but it's just a joke."

Well, many woman don't really like being seen just as sexual objects. "Well, she likes it and what business is it of yours?" Oh, this was just scientific interest in the question of why a man would say something so stupid. He harumpfed, we got to his floor, and he stormed out.

He probably thinks that feminists are the most stupid busy-bodies in the universe, but what is wrong with saying "Hello Sally!" when you meet a friend?