There´s a good chap

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

May I use the phrase there´s a good chap when I am talking to a girl?

"There´s a good chap, young lady, calm down and tell me what happened."

Thank you very much.

 

[GoesStation]

No, except perhaps ironically. A chap is a male.

 

[Johnyxxx]

A chap is a male.

So, if I want to use the idiom in a conversation with a girl, I have to use a soul instead of a chap, don´t I?

"There´s a good soul, Emma, and shut your mouth."

Thanks for help.

 

[GoesStation]

Either word would be unnatural in AmE. You may want to wait and see what speakers of other dialects say.

 

[Johnyxxx]

Either word would be unnatural in AmE.

The truth is that I have come across the idiom chiefly in an older British literature. The last instance, as long as I can remember, was in The Ghost Pirates by W.H.Hodgson, 1909.

"I could stand anything, but this being alone. There's a good chap, don't pretend you don't understand. Tell me what it all means. What is this horrible man that I've twice seen?"

So we shall see what the others have to say.

 

[emsr2d2]

We use "There's a good girl" seriously to a female child (to praise or to plead!) but generally sarcastically to a female adult. I'm more concerned by your plan to tell her to "shut your mouth". It really doesn't matter what you use at the start of the sentence. If you end it like that, you're likely to get a less than friendly response.

 

[Johnyxxx]

It all depends on the circumstances. I think the sentence is adequate if you are talking to an unfaithful woman who is trying to persuade you hysterically she has not been carrying on with your neighbourg though you know she definitely has.

Nevertheless, thank you very much, there´s a good girl is exactly what I am looking for.

 

[emsr2d2]

It all depends on the circumstances. I think the sentence is adequate if you are talking to an unfaithful woman who is trying to persuade you hysterically she has not been carrying on with your [strike]neibourg[/strike] neighbour/neighbor though you know she definitely has.
That's not the first context I think of when I'm helping English learners!

Nevertheless, thank you very much, there´s a good girl is exactly what I am looking for.

See above.

 

[Raymott]

I think the sentence is adequate if you are talking to an unfaithful woman who is trying to persuade you hysterically she has not been carrying on with your neighbourg though you know she definitely has.

Nevertheless, thank you very much, there´s a good girl is exactly what I am looking for.

Maybe she's carrying on with the neighbour because he doesn't treat her like a little girl; and maybe the only way she knows to communicate with you - hysterically - is by acting like one.

 

[Skrej]

The only context I'd use "good/bad girl/boy' in AmE is in praising and training an animal. I might use 'good boy/girl' with a very small infant. I'd probably stop using it once I thought the child could understand me (versus just understanding my tone), and switch to something like 'good job' for praise.

Unless of course I was trying to be especially demeaning to somebody with negative praise.

I'd never use 'chap', unless I was trying to do a bad British accent.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Johny:

I just thought that you might get a chuckle (a little gentle laughter) from an article in a May 8, 2016, article in the Guardian, a London newspaper.

Some women who work in government offices were quoted as saying that they "felt that they got on well [with their male colleagues], but because they were the right sort of 'female chap.' "

(Just google "Female Chap -- the story of women in Whitehall.")

 

[Johnyxxx]

Thank you much for the tip, TheParser, I will read the article.

 

[Tdol]

Chaps tend to be male, but just as guy is becoming less gendered, I don't see why not. These distinctions are becoming less marked.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

IF I am not mistaken, on that popular TV comedy "Friends," the female characters were occasionally referred to as "dudes."