年轻女性社会称谓的语义演变——“小姐”的尴尬

Semantic Evolution of the Social Appellation of Young Women——The Embarrassment of “Xiao Jie”

"小姐"一词,在上个世纪末风靡一时,成为年轻与时尚的标签。随着时代的发展,它却悄然带上了特殊服务业的含义。"小姐"一词从产生到各个历史时期发生不同程度的语义演变,由最初表示低贱身份的年轻女子到贵族的未婚女儿,再到有钱人家的女儿和富有新知识的青年女性,又复指典雅的女性和职业的"三陪女"。现代生活中,为了避免引起不必要的误会和尴尬,人们在日常交际中忌讳使用。

The word ＂Xiao Jie＂had been fashionable for a time at the end of last century and became labels of young and fashion. With the development of the times, it has quietly brought the meaning of the special service industry. The semantic evolution of ＂Xiao Jie＂ has taken place in each historical period in different degree. Initially, the word means the young women of humble origin, then its means is unmarried daugh- ters of nobles, later then it means the daughter of the rich and young female full of new knowledge , at the same time, the word is the double--reference of elegant women and professional women ＂escort＂. In mod- ern life, in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and embarrassment, people would not like to use it in daily life.