Feminists complaining at being called ‘honey’ are a tiresome bunch

Not surprisingly, feminists lost no time this week weighing in behind Emily Lucinda Cole, a Virgin Trains passenger who took great exception to being addressed by a rail employee ‘with that hideously patronising word women shudder at in contexts such as these: ‘honey’’.

And indeed, the episode she complained about did suggest that the term wasn’t altogether friendly. When she told her ticket inspector she took exception to the brusque way he checked her ticket (and yes, I’m wondering about that), and that she’d be complaining to the bosses, he told her: ‘You go ahead, honey’. He may have been an overworked Virgin employee fed up with middle-class girls getting uppity with him or he may have been a bad tempered so and so. It’s difficult to tell. And the Virgin response – ‘would you prefer ‘pet’ or ‘love’ next time?’ was not calculated to appease.

All the same, I can’t stand this sort of thing.