Stewardess of Flight Attendant?

The ABC show “Pan Am” is giving people a glimpse into the world of what used to be great airline service….and a time when the term stewardess was respected.

When did the words stewardess and steward become derogatory terms?
The “PC” term Flight Attendant has taken root. I was even reprimanded on my radio show once by a “flight attendant” who took offense at my use of the term stewardess.

Now, to me at least, the term stewardess has certain flair about it… it commands respect. A steward is someone placed in charge of something…given authority over a thing or area. In the Bible, we are even called to be good stewards. So what is the beef with the term?

In a recent AOL.tv article I like what a former Pan Am stewardess had to say…
“Oh absolutely we were stewardesses,” said Leslie Paine Anding, a Pan Am stewardess from 1965-74. “I wasn’t anybody’s attendant, thank you very much.”

So it seems at least now that the flight attendants that insist they are not stewards or stewardesses are demoting themselves for the sake of PC. Although you could say the entire industry is not what it was… maybe we don’t have a place for a true steward in the cabin. Gone are the days of class in the airline industry. Society has made pilots into bus drivers, stewardesses into attendants, gourmet meals into peanuts, and as we all know, passengers into cattle.

Tell me what your take is on the issue and while you are at it, check out my friend Chris Hogan speaking about Biblical Stewardship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE29uPhZ5A8