connotation - How did "lady" and "ladies" come to differ in conveying degree of respect?


I was struck today by the difference between the sentences:



Ladies, are you ready to order?



and



Lady, are you ready to order?



The first (at least in my idiolect) is clearly respectful, while the singular borders on disrespectful, yet the only surface difference is that one is singular, and the other plural. How did this come about, and are there other, similar words?




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