5 ms·

Just to complicate things: One usage that is definitely single-sex is, one male might say to another male, "Hi guy, how ya doin'?" "OK, guy, let me tell you

Just to complicate things: One usage that is definitely single-sex is, one male might say to another male, "Hi guy, how ya doin'?" "OK, guy, let me tell you how to do this." But he'd never say that to a female. However, it wouldn't be that unusual to say to a whole group of women, whether one is male OR female, "Hi guys, let's get started."

adolph 4y ago
I think the latter most became gender neutral because of the entry cry of the public television show “Three, Two, One Contact” in which a woman yelled “Hey You Guys” in what was clearly and inclusive manner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Contact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Contact
- FiatLuxDave 4y ago
  Surely you mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Company
- bitwize 4y ago
  It was The Electric Company and the woman was the legendary Rita Moreno. That show had an impressive ensemble cast, which included Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby (who is not so much legendary these days as infamous).
  - adolph 4y ago
    Thank you and also sibling comment
cm42 4y ago
I'm apparently in a minority here, but I've only known one guy to use it as a term of address (vs. how I just used it), and he notably did it with everyone, a la "dude" (so much that "Guy" became his nickname). Chief, on the other hand, I've only heard directed at males.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
  I don't know about the rest of the country, but in ND and MN everyone uses "guys" to refer to any gendered group of people
  - jkaptur 4y ago
    I think this is really interesting - I've heard "guys" used to address a group of mixed genders ("how are you guys?") but it sounds much more gendered when used to refer to a group ("how many guys are in there?" or even "are you looking for those guys?").
    - JamesianP 4y ago
      Perhaps because addressing people comes with more implications and possible angles for communication with those people. So "guys" fits the bill for one desired nuance that became more popular in culture (the "laid back" nuances the article mentions). Previous generations were a lot more formal.
  - cm42 4y ago
    Yeah, I grew up in PA and that's pretty common there, but when talking to one person, it's usually "Hey dude" or "Hey man" (also mostly gender-agnostic) Only that one guy would use it for one person, sometimes similar to whatchamacallit: "Guy! Whaddareya doin up there?!" "C'mon, guy! We're gonna be late!" "Any of you guys see my toolbox? Did guy take it again?" (Which guy, man? Dude, there's like ten guys here. Bro, you gotta be more specific.)
  - the_gipsy 4y ago
    Obliviousness doesn't make it right.
OJFord 4y ago
'a female' is the reverse of what pisses me of with overly 'SJW' descriptions of 'woman X', where X is 'coder' or whatever. 'Female' is the adjective; 'woman' is the noun. It's neither difficult nor rude. We manage it with 'male' and 'man' without controversy.
- WaxProlix 4y ago
  It's just being used to coerce a clinical reading, like some sort of wildlife observer, relax. "The female builds her nest in the late summer..." Adjectives and nouns are slippery things, and compound nouns exist besides. FWIW, a quick corpus search of COCA[1] for `DET female VERB` [(a|the) female (eats|plays|chooses...)] yields 63 total attestations in the corpus (59 unique). The same with `male` yields 65 (57 unique). So it's a thing that happens in English. 1 https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
  - OJFord 4y ago
    > It's just being used to coerce a clinical reading, like some sort of wildlife observer, relax. "The female builds her nest in the late summer..." That's an abbreviation of 'the female of the species' which is essentially writing out a definition of 'woman' except for the given species, since a woman is a human and there probably generally isn't an equivalent (and if there is it won't be widely known) for most species. Other than to humorous effect (Wodehouse was fond of it) it is redundant and not useful for describing humans. The female of the human species is called a woman, and this is widely known. > relax > So it's a thing that happens in English. I don't have to like it. Using the wrong their/they're/there is also 'a thing that happens in English', if by English we mean the words of people aiming to use it.
    - WaxProlix 4y ago
      > That's an abbreviation of 'the female of the species' which is essentially An interesting intuition, do you have anything to back it up? > I don't have to like it. Now that I empathize with, but I don't think there's much to be done in this case.

adolph 4y ago

I think the latter most became gender neutral because of the entry cry of the public television show “Three, Two, One Contact” in which a woman yelled “Hey You Guys” in what was clearly and inclusive manner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Contact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Contact

FiatLuxDave 4y ago
Surely you mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Electric_Company
bitwize 4y ago
It was The Electric Company and the woman was the legendary Rita Moreno. That show had an impressive ensemble cast, which included Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby (who is not so much legendary these days as infamous).
- adolph 4y ago
  Thank you and also sibling comment

cm42 4y ago

I'm apparently in a minority here, but I've only known one guy to use it as a term of address (vs. how I just used it), and he notably did it with everyone, a la "dude" (so much that "Guy" became his nickname). Chief, on the other hand, I've only heard directed at males.

zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
I don't know about the rest of the country, but in ND and MN everyone uses "guys" to refer to any gendered group of people
- jkaptur 4y ago
  I think this is really interesting - I've heard "guys" used to address a group of mixed genders ("how are you guys?") but it sounds much more gendered when used to refer to a group ("how many guys are in there?" or even "are you looking for those guys?").
  - JamesianP 4y ago
    Perhaps because addressing people comes with more implications and possible angles for communication with those people. So "guys" fits the bill for one desired nuance that became more popular in culture (the "laid back" nuances the article mentions). Previous generations were a lot more formal.
- cm42 4y ago
  Yeah, I grew up in PA and that's pretty common there, but when talking to one person, it's usually "Hey dude" or "Hey man" (also mostly gender-agnostic) Only that one guy would use it for one person, sometimes similar to whatchamacallit: "Guy! Whaddareya doin up there?!" "C'mon, guy! We're gonna be late!" "Any of you guys see my toolbox? Did guy take it again?" (Which guy, man? Dude, there's like ten guys here. Bro, you gotta be more specific.)
- the_gipsy 4y ago
  Obliviousness doesn't make it right.

OJFord 4y ago

'a female' is the reverse of what pisses me of with overly 'SJW' descriptions of 'woman X', where X is 'coder' or whatever. 'Female' is the adjective; 'woman' is the noun. It's neither difficult nor rude. We manage it with 'male' and 'man' without controversy.

WaxProlix 4y ago
It's just being used to coerce a clinical reading, like some sort of wildlife observer, relax. "The female builds her nest in the late summer..." Adjectives and nouns are slippery things, and compound nouns exist besides. FWIW, a quick corpus search of COCA[1] for `DET female VERB` [(a|the) female (eats|plays|chooses...)] yields 63 total attestations in the corpus (59 unique). The same with `male` yields 65 (57 unique). So it's a thing that happens in English. 1 https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/ https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
- OJFord 4y ago
  > It's just being used to coerce a clinical reading, like some sort of wildlife observer, relax. "The female builds her nest in the late summer..." That's an abbreviation of 'the female of the species' which is essentially writing out a definition of 'woman' except for the given species, since a woman is a human and there probably generally isn't an equivalent (and if there is it won't be widely known) for most species. Other than to humorous effect (Wodehouse was fond of it) it is redundant and not useful for describing humans. The female of the human species is called a woman, and this is widely known. > relax > So it's a thing that happens in English. I don't have to like it. Using the wrong their/they're/there is also 'a thing that happens in English', if by English we mean the words of people aiming to use it.
  - WaxProlix 4y ago
    > That's an abbreviation of 'the female of the species' which is essentially An interesting intuition, do you have anything to back it up? > I don't have to like it. Now that I empathize with, but I don't think there's much to be done in this case.