I have begun to notice of late that some people can't seem to refrain from using the word "little" in rather annoying ways.

There are relatively minor offenses, like, "I don't know if I can make it to your little shindig tonight."  Or, "I love your little outfit!"

Eh. Minor. I'm not going to complain about that. Probably because if I were to have a shindig it really would be little, since my apartment is little.  Although when you describe someone's outfit as "little" that implies that they are a child who has put on something silly for fun.

But then people start using it in the professional realm, and then I get annoyed.  "You did a good job with your little presentation."  Unless the presentation was really short, like a haiku, why would you put the word little in there? I don't know if it means something. I'm willing to believe it is just a minor bad habit of speech, but it sounds a tad condescending.

The receptionist where my (ex)boyfriend worked always referred to me in conversation with him as his "little girlfriend".  She'd say in a tone fit for kindergarten, "How's your little girlfriend?" WTF? What is with that?

The worst offender so far is a woman who worked in an office where I had a temp gig for awhile.  I was trained for the job by a guy who was probably about my age, maybe a little older, and he was also my supervisor so we worked together a lot.  One day at lunch, I saw him in line at the RiteAid, where I had gone to get a birthday card. He was there with another woman from work.  When I saw him I said, "Hi Dave,"  He didn't hear me, but she did and said to him, "Oh look, it's your little friend."

It turns out they were dating, so maybe she was jealous because I actually worked with him and she didn't? I can't think why else someone would be so overtly condescending. Seriously guys, if you were hanging out with your wife or girlfriend and she referred to a co-worker as your little friend, wouldn't you find that a bit weird? Wouldn't you look at her like  "WTF?"  

I guess I'm kind of just wondering when people are going to stop treating me like a kid.  

Maybe I should be flattered because everyone seems to think I look so young, but I don't think I'm the only one to receive inappropriate use of the word "little".  

The next person to hit me with one of those is going to get a lecture.  And it won't be little.