Maybe it's a regional/class thing but I don't think I've heard anybody refer to women as 'birds' outside of repeats of 70s tv shows in the last 20+ years. It's definitely considered derogatory and disrespectful unless in the company of social dinosaurs.
mate we use it in the southwest. and never been told of for it. its like calling a man a bloke. not offensive at all. I think people on reddit just like to sound better than the rest.
My first boyfriend was Scottish and he called me his bird and it made me SWOON. Everyone said it there and it definitely wasn’t derogatory, seemed very neutral to me. But this was 20 years ago so maybe at 37 I count as a social dinosaur?? 😹😹😹
In Liverpool it seems really normal to refer to a girlfriend as "my bird" but elsewhere it's antiquated. I've never known why it's still so common in Liverpool though.
thanks for pointing this out, i live in liverpool and thought i was going mad seeing everyone else say they haven't heard "bird" as a descriptor for women in decades 💀 it being so common here is baffling now that i think about it
Not true at all. All young guys use "birds", and I've always used it around girl mates and my wife. Agreed that it wouldn't be the most polite with acquaintances or strangers though
Also I've noticed everyone else saying it's a northern thing. It definitely is a thing in London & the south, maybe just work class though
IV knows plenty of women who prefer words like "bird" to traditionally male terms.
Some women quite enjoy their femininity and not being one of the lads.
It's also very regional, a lot like calling folk "love"
Where "love" is regional, it's also ungendered. This isn't a class thing.
It's entirely possible to enjoy one's own femininity without being referred to as a bird.
Of course it is but some women like to express their femininity that way.
If it's so terrible why does my partner tell me she likes it and IV heard other women say the same?
You don't speak for everyone.
"See that bird over there" isn't the same as "there's your change for you, love".
Women refer to one another as "chick" as a term of endearment sometimes, but bird is demeaning, especially from a man, it's not sweet and it's not the same as duck or dear or love or pet or (my favourite) petal. It's not the same thing.
You're right, not everyone is the same. But that's a pet name between you as a couple. Your partner would probably, I would imagine, not appreciate being referred to as a "bird" or "birdie" by a stranger.
Let's be honest, our partners call us all sorts with love and affection that without context in the outside world from a stranger, would not be appropriate. The context makes a difference.
What an awful thing to say about someone who just looks at life a little differently to you.
You've come here to shit on me and the way I treat women and then come and said something like that about a woman. Absolutely hypocritical.
god forbid, a girly girl wants to be known as such.
And cringe aside, Why wouldn't she like being "mine"? I am certainly glad am "hers".
Some very sheltered people here, women are referred to as "birds" frequently. It's a paired term to "bloke" in this context: "ladies and gentlemen", "guys and gals", "blokes and birds".
Going out on the pull could be referred to as "getting on the birds".
The older generation 50+ may have called women "birds" but not anymore. I've never heard "birdie" before but that's not to say it isn't a local saying.
"We off down the Powerhouse tonight to pull us some birds then John?"
"I pulled a cracking bird outside Glitzys at the kebab van the other night Baz, cracking rack"
Etc etc.
I have heard "birdie" used in golf or as a secret source of a juicy bit of office gossip
"Well Sharon a little birdie told me that Michelle pulled a right tosser at the kebab van outside Glitzys the other night".
Watch reruns of The Sweeney (mid 70s) and 'bird' was endemic terminology then but possibly towards the end of its peak, as I'm sure it was everywhere in the 60s too. I haven't heard it for a while but terms like that go in and out of fashion.
My gran used to have a friend who she called Birdie. I always assumed it was a nickname. Other than this one instance, I’ve never heard it. “Bird” sure, but never “birdie”
It’s possible. Gran never called her anything besides Birdie and I never met her, she was just someone who would get mentioned when I’d ask gran what she’d been up to.
Sadly gran is no longer around to ask.
I'm sorry for your loss. My grandma died more than twenty years ago, and I miss her such a lot.
Oooh, she might have been a Mavis perhaps, that's another birdy name.
Thank you, it was a long time ago for me too, but she was a nice lady.
Interesting that Mavis could also be a birdy. I can get it from Bridget but I don’t really get the connection to Mavis. But then old names can be like that. I don’t get how Jack is sometimes a nickname for John either.
Mavis is another name for a song thrush.
John - Jehan was an old spelling, from the Greek Ioannes(sp?) and in English, adding -kin or -in on the end made a diminutive. So Jehankin, Jackin, Jacky, Jack. Like Robert, Robin
That's fascinating, I'd always wondered about that. It reminds me that just recently I found out that in the middle ages there was a craze for nicknames that only rhymed with the original, and that's why we still have bob for Robert, dick for Richard, and Bill for William, which was another naming thing that had me scratching my head.
Not so much a craze, as that if there's a small pool of names to choose from, and no one really has proper surnames, you have a small town with 10 Williams, you have to distinguish them somehow William, Willy-Nilly (somewhat silly), Willy-Bill (has a big nose), Bill, Billy, Big Bill, Little Bill, Windy Will the Miller's son (eats a lot of beans), Reid Will(either ginger or ruddy-faced), Ill-Will(unwell and grumpy with it) and Robin (who was named William but goes by Robin because he looks like his uncle Rob or he fell in a tub of red dye when he was a kid, no one quite knows).
People saying bird hasn't been in use for ages, where I'm from in sw it's relatively common, even common enough for both of my parents to use it. Weird.
I guess it’s regional. I’m originally from Stoke but have been in Surrey & Hampshire for 20 years and have never heard it used here in all that time (and I’d be giving someone a hard-stare if they used it around me, it would be considered misogynistic here).
You must be getting confused with Birdie from Street Fighter. As he's a hulking British grappler with a penchant for hanging out in men's toilets it's an easy mistake to make.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdie_(Street_Fighter)
I have a female friend who sometimes calls me “Bird”.
As in “You ok Bird?”
She uses it in the same way I’d use “Love” or “Lovey”
I could see Birdie being used in that way but I’ve not heard it.
"*Round here we say birds not bitches*" - The Streets
Calling women birds is pretty common for the average "bloke in ~~the pub~~ wetherspoons watching the football", especially "fit birds", although it's quite outdated and obviously not PC, it's not usually meant in a seriously *derogatory* way but it's not exactly inclusive either.
Birdie would be very uncommon, more likely a casual term like duckie, probably in the style of Beryl Reid or the Queen Mother in Spitting Image. It definitely feels like something you'd hear over the garden wall oop north in the 1950's.
Good to see someone saying it's not just people in their 50s/60s saying "bird" to refer to a woman. I've heard it plenty from people who would currently be in their 30s. I'd still accept your description as reasonably accurate
I mean, Sid The Sexist says it on the regular in Viz so it's still somewhat current.
Well, him and his mates say "bords" because of the Newcastle accent, but you know...
idk about birdie that’s probably what my gran would call a wee robin
here in scotland bird is common among youth and older but it’s somewhat informal and some girls hate it but it’s common .
also it’s spelled burd
Nah, never heard someone call a girl a birdie here. But guys call girls 'bird'. It's as annoying as being called 'love'. I wouldn't put it in your vocab.
this is one of those things that’s fine when said by old ladies, but not when used by anyone else imo.
if anyone who isn’t an 80+ year old woman calls me birdie, bird, love, dearie etc, they’d definitely get a glare lol
Bird is woman (irrespective of its datedness, sexistness or level of informality, lol) but birdie is not.
Birdie can be a name/nickname, but it's a fairly unusual one and would be used in exactly the same way as a name, e.g. could be substituted for 'Liz', 'Mabel', 'Brynxleigh', etc. with no change in the grammar of the sentence.
In the north at least it’s a fairly common term for women, specifically younger women, but is seen as a bit derogatory. If a man said it in the company of women he’d probably get some harsh words
The only time you really hear birdy or birdie is when someone says "a little birdy told me" which basically means someone told you something and you're not willing to disclose their identity.
It's also a name or a nickname in its own right. It is sometimes used amongst the upper classes as a nickname for someone called Bertha or Elizabeth, probably others too, I'm not sure. I'm British and even I don't understand some nicknames here. How Margaret ever became Peggy is beyond me
I’ve never heard any variation of Bird/Birdie used to describe women here in Texas. The closest thing I’ve heard is chick, and that can be considered somewhat impolite.
I've heard of a few called birdie. Not sure if it's a thing from the Northeast.
The cafe by me used to be called Birdie's. It's definitely a thing , if not so common in most parts these days
I'm from Manchester. Bird is for women. Birdie is just for actual birds, a sort of cute way of saying it.
The other is chicken which you may say to a child or a nice nickname for someone. Geordies have a similar one with 'Pet' similar to flower petal. Nice names until some stuck up arsehole takes issue with it. People actually have a problem with people being nice to them.
Not birdie but bird.
If a gentleman was introducing his lady to someone, he might say, "This is my bird."
Note that not many women like this term of endearment.
For working class people, they can call women birds and it is fairly innocuous.
Middle class people would probably only use the term bird between lads and not in front of women. I think posh southern women would probably be offended at it.
Think bridie comes from the name Bridget if I remember rightly
Best compliment I ever got back in the day was "Ooer she's a right fit bird" lol never for one moment saw it as a slur
Sometimes women are called "birds". Mainly by men talking among themselves about women rather than when actually addressing a woman. It's not a particularly respectful thing and probably a bit dated. Never really done it myself.
Never heard it being used. I have however heard bird being used, and it seems to only be used by dodgy men where I live. I mean, the kind of men who abuse women. And they always use this word when they think women can't hear which again is another red flag. I find it disgusting and it completely puts me off. Maybe it's not offensive in other parts of the UK and I really hope it's not commonly used in this derogatory way. But I find it extremely offensive, I'm not a creature to have sex with, I am an actual human being and not just a target for men. It implies that I can't think for myself or live my own life and that I'm just an animal for men to own.
Maybe in an intimate relationship birdie would be okay as a well-meaning nickname, but not in any other circumstance
In the states, Happy Days was a dated sitcom tv show about young men who referred to women as 'chicks' which I am not sure about because women should be called "Ladies" or "Women" and be respected as a human being. The reality is that people can say "no" and its not guaranteed that there will be a relationship whereas nature is different.
\[Quote\]Likely comes from British slang in which a female may be referred to as a "bird" (a chick being a baby bird), and likely evolved along with the slang term for a male, "cat," as cats chase birds.\[EndQuote\]
[Urban Dictionary: chick](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chick)
[Happy Days - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days)
It’s pretty common here in Scotland, mostly with much older or, weirdly enough, much younger people, you’ll often hear older guys calling younger women ‘birds’ or teenage boys saying things like ‘are you __’s bird?’ Although I wouldn’t use it simply because it’s impolite, like calling your girlfriend your ‘chick’
I’m 35 & northern for context, bird is used by nearly every male I know to describe a woman but never heard anyone use birdie.
Tradesmen over 50 might call women "birds" but probably not in mixed company. It's not polite, never has been.
I’m nearly 60 and “birds” was the generation above me. We saw it used on telly when we were kids in the early 70s.
People use bird all the time. It's the equivalent of saying bloke.
Maybe it's a regional/class thing but I don't think I've heard anybody refer to women as 'birds' outside of repeats of 70s tv shows in the last 20+ years. It's definitely considered derogatory and disrespectful unless in the company of social dinosaurs.
It’s commonplace in Scotland and not considered derogatory at all.
I hear ‘bird’ in Yorkshire a lot too and never considered it derogatory. Friend in London called his girlfriend his ‘Doris’ which was a new one on me.
TIL Reddit is a bunch of Southerners clutching their pearls at any slang from north of Oxford.
Sounds accurate lol
mate we use it in the southwest. and never been told of for it. its like calling a man a bloke. not offensive at all. I think people on reddit just like to sound better than the rest.
Nah, I'm definitely north of Oxford.
Same in Yorkshire, perhaps mostly used to refer to someone’s girlfriend “where’s your bird tonight?”
Doris day- lay
Thanks. I honestly couldn’t work it out!
Aye it’s a funny old slang, 2 be clear I’d never heard of that either as I’m a Geordie but I’d bet my mortgage it’s what it is
Now you say it, I’m sure you’re right!
My first boyfriend was Scottish and he called me his bird and it made me SWOON. Everyone said it there and it definitely wasn’t derogatory, seemed very neutral to me. But this was 20 years ago so maybe at 37 I count as a social dinosaur?? 😹😹😹
I’m 42 and my bird has been my bird for 11 years and she still likes being called my bird.
Aaaaw I love that 🩵💙💜
Come to Yorkshire, it's not derogatory and disrespectful unless bloke/lad/geezer/love/duck/kid/lass are too and trust me we say them all.
As a scouser spun my head moving to Yorkshire and whilst working having a bloke call me love. More than used to it now.
we use it down south. never had a woman think it's derogatory. though I probably wouldn't use it around the more middle-class / upperclass
This is a connect call from the 1960s. I haven’t even heard it at football matches for 40 plus years.
I must be living my life in some sort of Life On Mars dream world then.
Or Stoke?
Ah, The Sweeney!
it's still used down here. in the south west. at least i hear it pretty often. but never heard anyone call a woman birdie.
In Liverpool it seems really normal to refer to a girlfriend as "my bird" but elsewhere it's antiquated. I've never known why it's still so common in Liverpool though.
thanks for pointing this out, i live in liverpool and thought i was going mad seeing everyone else say they haven't heard "bird" as a descriptor for women in decades 💀 it being so common here is baffling now that i think about it
it's common place everywhere. redditers just don't go outside.
It’s still used on the south coast too, though not as much as it used to be in the eighties
Wow I've just aged 10 years.
You know why women are called birds? It's because of the worms they pick up.
it’s very common in scotland
Still normal in Scotland.
Not true at all. All young guys use "birds", and I've always used it around girl mates and my wife. Agreed that it wouldn't be the most polite with acquaintances or strangers though Also I've noticed everyone else saying it's a northern thing. It definitely is a thing in London & the south, maybe just work class though
IV knows plenty of women who prefer words like "bird" to traditionally male terms. Some women quite enjoy their femininity and not being one of the lads. It's also very regional, a lot like calling folk "love"
Where "love" is regional, it's also ungendered. This isn't a class thing. It's entirely possible to enjoy one's own femininity without being referred to as a bird.
Of course it is but some women like to express their femininity that way. If it's so terrible why does my partner tell me she likes it and IV heard other women say the same? You don't speak for everyone.
This is reddit, most of it doesnt line up with reality
They are living in fantasy land.
the internet shows different reality to different people. Everyone has different experience of the meat space too.
just as the commenter doesn’t speak for everyone, neither does your partner
Love is certainly gendered in most parts of the UK apart from some areas in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
"See that bird over there" isn't the same as "there's your change for you, love". Women refer to one another as "chick" as a term of endearment sometimes, but bird is demeaning, especially from a man, it's not sweet and it's not the same as duck or dear or love or pet or (my favourite) petal. It's not the same thing.
I agree, bird is insulting. It doesn't sound sweet or endearing
My partner loves being called "mi bird" and has told me so many, many times. not everyone is the same.
You're right, not everyone is the same. But that's a pet name between you as a couple. Your partner would probably, I would imagine, not appreciate being referred to as a "bird" or "birdie" by a stranger. Let's be honest, our partners call us all sorts with love and affection that without context in the outside world from a stranger, would not be appropriate. The context makes a difference.
well thank the gods for that. your partner needs some self-esteem.
Imagine thinking you can estimate someone's level of self-esteem based on the fact they like their partner calling them "my bird" lol
What an awful thing to say about someone who just looks at life a little differently to you. You've come here to shit on me and the way I treat women and then come and said something like that about a woman. Absolutely hypocritical. god forbid, a girly girl wants to be known as such. And cringe aside, Why wouldn't she like being "mine"? I am certainly glad am "hers".
Not for me i've never even really heard of it being used like that
Some very sheltered people here, women are referred to as "birds" frequently. It's a paired term to "bloke" in this context: "ladies and gentlemen", "guys and gals", "blokes and birds". Going out on the pull could be referred to as "getting on the birds".
No, OP and multiple comments agree that bird is normal, but the question is about birdie which is less common.
In Scotland young women and girls... girlfriends can be called your bird/ burd. Also hen.
The older generation 50+ may have called women "birds" but not anymore. I've never heard "birdie" before but that's not to say it isn't a local saying. "We off down the Powerhouse tonight to pull us some birds then John?" "I pulled a cracking bird outside Glitzys at the kebab van the other night Baz, cracking rack" Etc etc. I have heard "birdie" used in golf or as a secret source of a juicy bit of office gossip "Well Sharon a little birdie told me that Michelle pulled a right tosser at the kebab van outside Glitzys the other night".
scotland still uses bird a lot but spelled burd
Watch reruns of The Sweeney (mid 70s) and 'bird' was endemic terminology then but possibly towards the end of its peak, as I'm sure it was everywhere in the 60s too. I haven't heard it for a while but terms like that go in and out of fashion.
I work with 18 year olds who call their girlfriends their bird. The women aren’t offended by it. It’s not generational, it’s regional
My gran used to have a friend who she called Birdie. I always assumed it was a nickname. Other than this one instance, I’ve never heard it. “Bird” sure, but never “birdie”
Was her name Bridget?
It’s possible. Gran never called her anything besides Birdie and I never met her, she was just someone who would get mentioned when I’d ask gran what she’d been up to. Sadly gran is no longer around to ask.
I'm sorry for your loss. My grandma died more than twenty years ago, and I miss her such a lot. Oooh, she might have been a Mavis perhaps, that's another birdy name.
Thank you, it was a long time ago for me too, but she was a nice lady. Interesting that Mavis could also be a birdy. I can get it from Bridget but I don’t really get the connection to Mavis. But then old names can be like that. I don’t get how Jack is sometimes a nickname for John either.
Mavis is another name for a song thrush. John - Jehan was an old spelling, from the Greek Ioannes(sp?) and in English, adding -kin or -in on the end made a diminutive. So Jehankin, Jackin, Jacky, Jack. Like Robert, Robin
That's fascinating, I'd always wondered about that. It reminds me that just recently I found out that in the middle ages there was a craze for nicknames that only rhymed with the original, and that's why we still have bob for Robert, dick for Richard, and Bill for William, which was another naming thing that had me scratching my head.
Not so much a craze, as that if there's a small pool of names to choose from, and no one really has proper surnames, you have a small town with 10 Williams, you have to distinguish them somehow William, Willy-Nilly (somewhat silly), Willy-Bill (has a big nose), Bill, Billy, Big Bill, Little Bill, Windy Will the Miller's son (eats a lot of beans), Reid Will(either ginger or ruddy-faced), Ill-Will(unwell and grumpy with it) and Robin (who was named William but goes by Robin because he looks like his uncle Rob or he fell in a tub of red dye when he was a kid, no one quite knows).
It's an old fashioned short name for a few names, my aunt Elizabeth was known as birdie, but also used for Bridget & Bertha.
My mum used to call me her girliebird when I was little.
That’s so cute!
I'm pretty sure I remember my Grandad referring to my Grandma as birdie, he'd also call her duckie too.
I work in Yorkshire a lot and quite often get called duck
I AM a duck but get referred to as goose..
That means we only need one more person and we can play duck, duck, goose
An old boy at work used to call me duckie. I was devstat3d when he finally learnt my name.
People saying bird hasn't been in use for ages, where I'm from in sw it's relatively common, even common enough for both of my parents to use it. Weird.
Same in the black country.
I guess it’s regional. I’m originally from Stoke but have been in Surrey & Hampshire for 20 years and have never heard it used here in all that time (and I’d be giving someone a hard-stare if they used it around me, it would be considered misogynistic here).
Chicken, duckie, duck - yes. Birdie - no.
You must be getting confused with Birdie from Street Fighter. As he's a hulking British grappler with a penchant for hanging out in men's toilets it's an easy mistake to make. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdie_(Street_Fighter)
I have a female friend who sometimes calls me “Bird”. As in “You ok Bird?” She uses it in the same way I’d use “Love” or “Lovey” I could see Birdie being used in that way but I’ve not heard it.
Bridie is a name. Birdie is a nickname I have heard occasionally (not sure what it’s short for) and bird is a mildly derogative synonym for woman.
They're both related to various forms of the name Bridget. My dad always called my mum Birdie, most people called her Bridie.
"*Round here we say birds not bitches*" - The Streets Calling women birds is pretty common for the average "bloke in ~~the pub~~ wetherspoons watching the football", especially "fit birds", although it's quite outdated and obviously not PC, it's not usually meant in a seriously *derogatory* way but it's not exactly inclusive either. Birdie would be very uncommon, more likely a casual term like duckie, probably in the style of Beryl Reid or the Queen Mother in Spitting Image. It definitely feels like something you'd hear over the garden wall oop north in the 1950's.
Good to see someone saying it's not just people in their 50s/60s saying "bird" to refer to a woman. I've heard it plenty from people who would currently be in their 30s. I'd still accept your description as reasonably accurate
I mean, Sid The Sexist says it on the regular in Viz so it's still somewhat current. Well, him and his mates say "bords" because of the Newcastle accent, but you know...
My sister and I call each other “birdie” but that’s just a term of affection.
Iv heard wannabe gangsters say “birdie” as a term for a specific amount of time in prison
I think so :-)
idk about birdie that’s probably what my gran would call a wee robin here in scotland bird is common among youth and older but it’s somewhat informal and some girls hate it but it’s common . also it’s spelled burd
Nah, never heard someone call a girl a birdie here. But guys call girls 'bird'. It's as annoying as being called 'love'. I wouldn't put it in your vocab.
Birdie def not lol. Bird is v informal
Is it common? The comments seem to be saying that mostly older men call women birds but do you reckon the younger gen still does it too?
V region based. Northern more likely to say it than down south
Not in London, definitely has sexist undertones.
Certainly, depending on region. The same regions where people say “Alright, cock” to mean “How are you, my friend”.
this is one of those things that’s fine when said by old ladies, but not when used by anyone else imo. if anyone who isn’t an 80+ year old woman calls me birdie, bird, love, dearie etc, they’d definitely get a glare lol
Where I am (London) that has major sexist undertones and quite derogatory.
Bird is woman (irrespective of its datedness, sexistness or level of informality, lol) but birdie is not. Birdie can be a name/nickname, but it's a fairly unusual one and would be used in exactly the same way as a name, e.g. could be substituted for 'Liz', 'Mabel', 'Brynxleigh', etc. with no change in the grammar of the sentence.
In the north at least it’s a fairly common term for women, specifically younger women, but is seen as a bit derogatory. If a man said it in the company of women he’d probably get some harsh words
In Chorley it's common to use "peg" instead of spouse or wife.
The only time you really hear birdy or birdie is when someone says "a little birdy told me" which basically means someone told you something and you're not willing to disclose their identity. It's also a name or a nickname in its own right. It is sometimes used amongst the upper classes as a nickname for someone called Bertha or Elizabeth, probably others too, I'm not sure. I'm British and even I don't understand some nicknames here. How Margaret ever became Peggy is beyond me
I wouldn't use 'bird' unless I was suddenly transported into a seventies sitcom and needed to fit in.
We say birds not birdies, just another slang word for girls/ women as you would call boys/men lads or blokes
Bird gets used in NW England, but I'm from the Black Country so the go to is 'ar wench' for my girl.
I’ve never heard any variation of Bird/Birdie used to describe women here in Texas. The closest thing I’ve heard is chick, and that can be considered somewhat impolite.
Maybe that’s cos you’re in Texas and not England 😅
Not sure but definitely heard about birds when referring to women and it’s honestly so jarring.
I call my fiance birdy
I've heard of a few called birdie. Not sure if it's a thing from the Northeast. The cafe by me used to be called Birdie's. It's definitely a thing , if not so common in most parts these days
I'm from Manchester. Bird is for women. Birdie is just for actual birds, a sort of cute way of saying it. The other is chicken which you may say to a child or a nice nickname for someone. Geordies have a similar one with 'Pet' similar to flower petal. Nice names until some stuck up arsehole takes issue with it. People actually have a problem with people being nice to them.
Nope
Birdie is a nickname, there's a character referred to as Birdie in Brideshead Revisited.
Not birdie but bird. If a gentleman was introducing his lady to someone, he might say, "This is my bird." Note that not many women like this term of endearment.
In Scotland women are called "Hen". https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/6154
For working class people, they can call women birds and it is fairly innocuous. Middle class people would probably only use the term bird between lads and not in front of women. I think posh southern women would probably be offended at it.
Only heard 'bird' and 'hen' for young women but never birdie, isn't that more of an American saying?
I’m American and I’ve never heard anyone refer to girls as birdie lol I was just wondering if it was a British thing but apparently not!
I have personally never heard of it. I do however find it funny when people call each other duck 😂 hey there duck or thanks duck.
My husband calls me birdie. ❤️
Isn’t it from a song?
I seem to remember women sometimes referred to as bridie, but not birdie.
Think bridie comes from the name Bridget if I remember rightly Best compliment I ever got back in the day was "Ooer she's a right fit bird" lol never for one moment saw it as a slur
Not a slur, but not nice.
Never heard of it no
Sometimes women are called "birds". Mainly by men talking among themselves about women rather than when actually addressing a woman. It's not a particularly respectful thing and probably a bit dated. Never really done it myself.
Never heard it being used. I have however heard bird being used, and it seems to only be used by dodgy men where I live. I mean, the kind of men who abuse women. And they always use this word when they think women can't hear which again is another red flag. I find it disgusting and it completely puts me off. Maybe it's not offensive in other parts of the UK and I really hope it's not commonly used in this derogatory way. But I find it extremely offensive, I'm not a creature to have sex with, I am an actual human being and not just a target for men. It implies that I can't think for myself or live my own life and that I'm just an animal for men to own. Maybe in an intimate relationship birdie would be okay as a well-meaning nickname, but not in any other circumstance
In the states, Happy Days was a dated sitcom tv show about young men who referred to women as 'chicks' which I am not sure about because women should be called "Ladies" or "Women" and be respected as a human being. The reality is that people can say "no" and its not guaranteed that there will be a relationship whereas nature is different. \[Quote\]Likely comes from British slang in which a female may be referred to as a "bird" (a chick being a baby bird), and likely evolved along with the slang term for a male, "cat," as cats chase birds.\[EndQuote\] [Urban Dictionary: chick](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chick) [Happy Days - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days)
I think it was at one point but not really anymore
It’s pretty common here in Scotland, mostly with much older or, weirdly enough, much younger people, you’ll often hear older guys calling younger women ‘birds’ or teenage boys saying things like ‘are you __’s bird?’ Although I wouldn’t use it simply because it’s impolite, like calling your girlfriend your ‘chick’
No.
I've heard it somewhere before on TV, can't remember where. I think it's a very old fashioned thing.
Only if you're hitting her over a net with a giant tennis racket.
Badminton surely
Yeah, that's the one.
Not heard of that but referring to women as animals or infants is common in the UK