Calling someone a maid is derogatory only if YOU think that being a maid is shameful or of a lower class. I have utmost respect for maids, cleaners, garbage collectors and think that making up a name just so you feel better is worse than if you actually extended them the respect they deserve so that they feel proud of their occupation
Class aside, I think you can base it on whether the person identifies self with the work or not. I’m a Designer; it is both the work I do and what I think I am. I suspect doctors and lawyers and teachers feel the same way. It maybe isn’t that way for a waiter or a housekeeper. They may think of that as the work they do and not something meaningful to who they are.
I certainly called myself a waiter when I worked in foodservice. But I didn’t identify myself with the work.
Where was anyone identifying the maid as that being their sole identity trait (outside of the eternally-offended person in the post)?
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The OP presumably only referred to them as "our maid" because that's their relationship with the person. It's a pretty standard way of talking. I could say "my cousin quit his job because he was using his earnings to buy education for his children etc and now my cousin doesn't need to work anymore."
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I guarantee my cousin wouldn't find it offensive. In no way am I implying that if this person weren't my cousin they'd have no definable reasons for existing. That's simply a statement of our connection to each other.
She literally just demeaned every single person with any of those titles by implying they are somehow viewed as "lesser" for the occupation they have.
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Seriously. I'm beginning to think we need to put advanced trigonometry on hold and start teaching self-awareness in schools these days. It's obviously too late for this human but there may be hope for the next generation
I think Driver is ok still.
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I certainly called myself a waiter when I worked in foodservice. But I didn’t identify myself with the work.
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The OP presumably only referred to them as "our maid" because that's their relationship with the person. It's a pretty standard way of talking. I could say "my cousin quit his job because he was using his earnings to buy education for his children etc and now my cousin doesn't need to work anymore."
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I guarantee my cousin wouldn't find it offensive. In no way am I implying that if this person weren't my cousin they'd have no definable reasons for existing. That's simply a statement of our connection to each other.
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Seriously. I'm beginning to think we need to put advanced trigonometry on hold and start teaching self-awareness in schools these days. It's obviously too late for this human but there may be hope for the next generation