finally I can say I passed without a doubt

[El Capitan]

On Saturday I was doing a charity fundraiser with my *well known first- aid organisation in the UK* unit. Whilst collecting along the road, myself and another guy decided to take a walk around a carboot sale that was happening nearby to see if we could get some more money there 

So there we were in our uniforms of shirt, jumper, tie and high visability jacket wandering around with our buckets hoping people may see us and give a bit of spare change when all of a sudden I hear 'Son! here you are Son!' I look round and there's an elderly man holding out some change for me. Well, I was overjoyed as you might imagine  (I pass very rarely as far as I know) I thanked him and then continued wandering around and again heard someone trying to attract my attention calling me son again.

Over the moon doesn't do what I felt justice to be honest lol I just wish it happened more often



ps. we raised in total that day just under £2000

[EmilyElizabeth]

I always thought "son" was the most demeaning of all the male identifiers.  I'm glad it makes you happy though 

[Lee]

Congratulations on both the pass and the money 

[Padma]

No, in the UK "son" is just a friendly thing, like "mate" - "Come on, my son!!" is something you'd shout to encourage a footballer .

[Aiden]

Son is demeaning?   I'm from US but always considered it a friendly and warm way for an older man to address a younger man.  Just as I have always seen calling someone ma'am or sir a sign of respect.   Though I have stopped doing the latter so much because apparently some people take offense to it?  Which i don;t understand why.   It's more polite than "Hey you" if you don't know their name.

[Noah G.]

Sounds like quite a few people had a good weekend! Congratulations! And, as Lee stated, that's both on passing and the money collected.

Most people I know who consider that term demeaning have a military background, though some others use it in a demeaning manner as well (and it's usually pretty obvious when that's the case). Not everyone does, however, and it doesn't seem to be the case in this instance.

[tvc15]

Son is a great term in my opinion--I'd say "sonny" could be seen as demeaning depending on the context though, but not always. Every time I've heard "son" it was in a very friendly manner. Congrats El Capitan.

[El Capitan]

cheers everyone 

yep, Padma & co. are right, son is more endearing than demeaning and is indeed popular over here in the UK amongst older folk. Ofcourse, having said that, it can be used as an insult or similar aswell.

I think I passed again tonight during the door to door collections (yes, i'm at it again..it's collection month lol) and an older man who was hard of hearing called me Sir. Definitely wouldnt have happened if he'd heard me properly though (I have a girly voice )