Dylan Smith writes:

I'm curious - what makes the term 'steward' or 'stewardess' offensive or
wrong?

Wrong is a strong word.

The most rational objection I've heard is that it's inaccurate because
flight attendants are not actually steward(esse)s. A steward is a
kind of personal assistant, or household domestic, or valet, or
waiter, and so on. Flight attendants, however, are safety
technicians; the usual tasks for which they are best known are in fact
just busy work, because the only reason they are really there is to
help in emergencies. Thus, "flight attendant" is more accurate.

However, most flight attendants don't seem to get hyper if someone
calls them a steward or stewardess. It just means that the passenger
is behind the times, usually--way behind, these days, since FAs
haven't been called stewards in quite a while.

I can't think of any negative connotations of the term which
would do so.

There aren't any negative connotations, unless you think the
traditional functions of a steward are Bad Things. The inaccuracy of
the term favors something like flight attendant, but I don't know why
anyone would be offended.

As far as I know, at least where I live, the collective
term is "cabin crew" and the singular term is "steward" or "stewardess",
and this is what the cabin crew actually call themselves.

Where do you live?

I always thought "flight attendant" sounded slightly demeaning compared
to "steward" or "cabin crew".

It certainly could be taken that way, since it sounds somewhat like
gas-station attendant, and tends to understate the importance of the
job. But perhaps steward sounded too much like a personal slave?

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