5 ms·

Guys doesn't refer to men anymore, it's now a neutral word that can refer to both genders.

by kristofferR 4y ago

greenhorn360 4y ago
So how many guys have you slept with? It's not neutral but guys like to pretend it is.
- peteforde 4y ago
  This is a genuinely clever reply. I do wonder what a linguist would suggest about these two uses, though. English is a language in which context often changes outcomes.
  - refurb 4y ago
    It’s clever if you’ve never heard of context.
    - lightmyst 4y ago
      It's not clever if you've never heard a joke.
- Chris2048 4y ago
  It's neutral referring to groups, not individuals. If you approach a group and say "How are you guys?" it doesn't imply an all-male group.
- mst 4y ago
  Depends which register of english. If I'm in a mixed group down the pub I won't at all be surprised if somebody (usually female) walks up to the table and says "hey guys" as a greeting, intending to include male, female and enby members of said group. If I'm on the internet I'm not going to try and use "guys" as gender neutral because I fully expect I'd be misunderstood by a decent percentage of people reading if I did. So I wouldn't say people are necessarily pretending, it's entirely possible they're just used to it being neutral and forgetting that for a bunch of people it very much isn't. That's socially though - when talking about people I've slept with, I acknowledge I'd expect people to read 'guys' as only referencing the male-identified ones. Though I'm more likely to use 'dudes' for that purpose myself, because confusion around 'guys' can go in both directions.
- tremon 4y ago
  Point taken. There's a difference though between "guys" as an address (which is used by plenty of female-only groups as well) and "guys" as a noun.
mrguyorama 4y ago
A lot of people say this, and I WANT this to be true because I don't know of a similar term that really works. I don't think most women agree. When my best friend came out as trans, I struggled to come up with a good way to refer to everyone as a group in a "hey everyone" kind of way. I eventually realized it's a stupid concept all together and walked into the room of my now mixed gendered friends while shouting "SUP CHODES!". Went over very well. I recommend it.
- rebeccaskinner 4y ago
  As I regularly remind people, "assholes" is a perfectly good gender neutral collective pronoun.
- mixmastamyk 4y ago
  y'allz, peeps

Guys doesn't refer to men anymore, it's now a neutral word that can refer to both genders.

greenhorn360 4y ago

So how many guys have you slept with? It's not neutral but guys like to pretend it is.

peteforde 4y ago
This is a genuinely clever reply. I do wonder what a linguist would suggest about these two uses, though. English is a language in which context often changes outcomes.
- refurb 4y ago
  It’s clever if you’ve never heard of context.
  - lightmyst 4y ago
    It's not clever if you've never heard a joke.
Chris2048 4y ago
It's neutral referring to groups, not individuals. If you approach a group and say "How are you guys?" it doesn't imply an all-male group.
mst 4y ago
Depends which register of english. If I'm in a mixed group down the pub I won't at all be surprised if somebody (usually female) walks up to the table and says "hey guys" as a greeting, intending to include male, female and enby members of said group. If I'm on the internet I'm not going to try and use "guys" as gender neutral because I fully expect I'd be misunderstood by a decent percentage of people reading if I did. So I wouldn't say people are necessarily pretending, it's entirely possible they're just used to it being neutral and forgetting that for a bunch of people it very much isn't. That's socially though - when talking about people I've slept with, I acknowledge I'd expect people to read 'guys' as only referencing the male-identified ones. Though I'm more likely to use 'dudes' for that purpose myself, because confusion around 'guys' can go in both directions.
tremon 4y ago
Point taken. There's a difference though between "guys" as an address (which is used by plenty of female-only groups as well) and "guys" as a noun.

mrguyorama 4y ago

A lot of people say this, and I WANT this to be true because I don't know of a similar term that really works. I don't think most women agree. When my best friend came out as trans, I struggled to come up with a good way to refer to everyone as a group in a "hey everyone" kind of way. I eventually realized it's a stupid concept all together and walked into the room of my now mixed gendered friends while shouting "SUP CHODES!". Went over very well. I recommend it.

rebeccaskinner 4y ago
As I regularly remind people, "assholes" is a perfectly good gender neutral collective pronoun.
mixmastamyk 4y ago
y'allz, peeps