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Be safe!!!!!! From what? Being scared of offending someone over the word dude or guys. I can't even imagine the anxiety you must suffer from if you are trying t

• Jtsummers 10y ago
  Most of the time there's just a handful of cases to be aware of when communicating with others to avoid offending anyone. And it's actually a pretty stress-free experience if you choose to speak to people in a professional setting using professional, formal language. This is very much a cultural issue. From my time in Korea, a young person speaking to an older person in a familiar way would've been a major faux pas. On the other hand, the reverse (and consequent potential for put downs on the younger person) seemed quite common (older referring to younger more familiarly than had been earned). Similar experience in Spanish-language communities and cultures. English, particularly American, speaking communities have developed an incredibly tendency towards informality and unearned familiarity in our language. That's not a bad thing, strictly speaking, but it is something to consider. When you enter into a professional setting, or a setting with people you aren't familiar with, just speak to them in more formal, professional, or polite ways and you are incredibly unlikely to offend someone (outside the occasional, "My father was Mr. Such-and-such, I'm just Bob", or random enlisted Army guy, "Don't call me sir, I work for a living"). It is stress-free if this sort of language is something you practice on a daily basis, it's just how you speak to people.
• Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  Well, I'll try... Yeah, horrible choice of words on my behalf :)