4 ms·

> Some of these are colloquial, but their existence also points to the fact that there are groups that weren't served exlusively with the gendered "guys". Most

> Some of these are colloquial, but their existence also points to the fact that there are groups that weren't served exlusively with the gendered "guys". Most of the replacements you cited are regional: - Y'all is Southern/AAVE. - Them is third-person, whereas "you guys" is second-person. - "Yinz" is from Pittsburgh. - I'm gonna throw in "youse," one of my faves, which is from New Jersey/Philly. "Guys" is clearly gendered, whereas "you guys," I'd argue, generally isn't--especially in the Northeast US. I frequently hear cis women refer to groups of entirely cis women as "you guys." This isn't meant as a view of what the ideal state of the English language is (bring back "thou!"), but these discussions frequently involve people talking past each other, and conflating "you guys" (second-person plural, arguably gendered) with "guys" (third-person plural, usually gendered). Effectively replacing "you guys" is a more challenging task, since there isn't a universally agreed-upon alternative, at least in the US. I'll leave it to others to figure out what that alternative should be, though I will note that I, as a WASP from the Northeast, sound completely ridiculous saying "y'all."

xracy 4y ago
I don't think you can say that a gendered word is not gendered in all contexts. The recognition that "Guys" is gendered, means that "you guys" will read as gendered to people. And that it will be necessarily exclusionary if you don't identify that way. It's worth noting that "you" is gender neutral and plural on its own. So it's hard for me to accept that adding a gendered word to a non-gendered one magically takes away the gendering. Also, the only people I ever see complaining about having to change this are people who fall into the group that's definitely included in "you guys". Me <- WASP from Northwest that adopted y'all later in life, because it's just fun to say, and completely unambiguous.

xracy 4y ago

I don't think you can say that a gendered word is not gendered in all contexts. The recognition that "Guys" is gendered, means that "you guys" will read as gendered to people. And that it will be necessarily exclusionary if you don't identify that way. It's worth noting that "you" is gender neutral and plural on its own. So it's hard for me to accept that adding a gendered word to a non-gendered one magically takes away the gendering. Also, the only people I ever see complaining about having to change this are people who fall into the group that's definitely included in "you guys". Me <- WASP from Northwest that adopted y'all later in life, because it's just fun to say, and completely unambiguous.