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I heard that it is not appropriate to call women or girls "小姐" in northen China. It is considered rough and have meaning close to hooker. So I never address girl or women "小姐" in north and even when I am in Shanghai or even more southern regions.

Is it really an issue? And if it is, what should I use instead? Right now I always use 姐 or 大姐 just to be sure I dont "hurt" some one.

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Where in China using 小姐 is ok? I sometimes hear 小姐 in Taiwan movies. And is it ok to use 小姐 in 香港? – Denis Kucherov Nov 30 '12 at 12:11
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In 香港，it's fine to use 小姐，but do note that in 香港，we use Cantonese, not Mandarin. – Russell Dec 2 '12 at 6:34
I hear this more in Taiwan, but I'm still a little scared to use it. – Matthew Rudy 马泰 Dec 3 '12 at 8:24
@MatthewRudy马泰 I hear it a lot in Taiwanese movies. For example in 斗牛要不要。 From this movie its clear that 小姐 used in polite and not flirting way. So I guess that in Taiwan 小姐 has quite a different meaning. – Denis Kucherov Dec 3 '12 at 13:20
@DenisKucherov The basic meaning is the same. I don't know where the hooker meaning come from. And the hooker meaning is still slang, in my opinion. – fefe Dec 4 '12 at 11:23

2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Yes. It is an issue. But 姐 or 大姐 is not very appropriate sometimes.

  • You can use 姐 or 大姐 to call a lady who is elder than you. But they'd better be not very young.
  • To call a young lady, 美女 is popular now in cities, though maybe they are not really very beautiful.
  • If there is some context, like to call a waitress, just use 服务员 or other address expressing their jobs.
  • And at last, 女士, literal translation of lady, is always a choice.

Edited: It is an issue not because the meaning is used by everyone. But there are too many use cases, nobody wants to be misunderstood. Ironic, this is something like Gresham's Law.

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Yep. I sometimes have feeling that its not appropriate. 美姐 is sounds great I will use it. It's reminds me 帅哥. But if the girl is really ugly, can 美姐 be considered like a joke? – Denis Kucherov Nov 30 '12 at 8:38
Mostly not. But 美姐 sounds a little strange. – halfelf Nov 30 '12 at 8:40
Sorry I mean 美女. – Denis Kucherov Nov 30 '12 at 8:42
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美女 doesn't carry the negative implication (i.e. hooker) that 小姐 does, however, this word has a flirting nature. You need to be careful of the context and your tone when using it. – NS.X. Dec 2 '12 at 0:41
What about 姑娘 when you address someone likely younger? – gb. May 13 at 2:20
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up vote 1 down vote

It depends. It can be dangerous if you are not familiar with use of it.

In my experience, when 小姐 mean hooker, the 姐 often has a neutral tone. Normal 小姐 would never have a neutral tone. Instead, when someone uses 小姐 to call others, 姐 would be more emphasized than 小。

Secondly, when 小姐 is used to call someone, it seldom has the meaning hooker. The meaning hookers are used sentences like:

她是一个小姐。

She is a hooker.

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Interesting point about neutral tone. So basically you mean that if emphasis third tone on the last character then it's ok to use 小姐 anywhere in China? For me even 他是一个美女 sounds a little bit suspicion, maybe because in Russian it's sounds with a bit of irony. – Denis Kucherov Dec 1 '12 at 6:59
I cannot say for anywhere in China. I live in the Beijing area. And in call others, I mean using sentences like "小姐!" to get others attention. – fefe Dec 1 '12 at 7:34

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