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You're right about everything. But I'd argue if we're going to dedicate time to 'guys', we should no less have a meeting about every single other possible ambig
by nomilk 2y ago
You're right about everything. But I'd argue if we're going to dedicate time to 'guys', we should no less have a meeting about every single other possible ambiguity that hardly matters, and try to somehow encourage inconvenient changes to people's natural vocabularies.
Similarly to the article above, during the meeting, no alternative was suggested. I like the word 'guys' for its casualness. If you're at risk of being perceived as somewhat authoritative, it can help induce a more casual tone. I thought about 'peeps' but that's too casual (and frankly weird, in a business setting). 'Everyone' is far too sterile. 'Ladies and gentlemen' is weird. 'All' (e.g. 'hi all') is also impersonal.
Workplaces could over-analyse and pick about minutiae all day long, and how productive is that? I reasoned that if we are going to pick about minutiae, then it should at least be the worst of the worst offences, and should be accompanied with some alternatives or solutions. Not just "Don't do <x> because I said so" type of thing.
- jwkpiano1 2y agoIn my experience y’all works as a perfect alternative to “you guys”, even as a non-Southerner myself. After my initial discomfort using it it became quite natural.
- YurgenJurgensen 2y agoI am not a “y’all”, and I’m not a “folk”. If you use either of these terms to refer to a group that includes me or potentially could include me I will interpret it as a deliberate insult.
- fenomas 2y agoSure, I follow. FWIW, every time I've seen this discussed in a corporate context there was always a suggested alternative, and it was always "folks".
- collingreen 2y agoFolks, y'all, team, friends, listeners/readers, people, <title>s.
- fidotron 2y agoCuriously the words you list for that usage are now tell tale signs of language policing. It's almost as revealing as "Yikes, there's a lot of issues to unpack there. Top of mind is the absence of guardrails around inappropriate language and metaphor." Quite how we've reached the point where political persuasions are linguistically distinct I have no idea.
- jwkpiano1 2y agoCome on. You can’t honestly tell me that “folks” or “y’all” are signs of language policing. I think many Southerners would vehemently disagree with you.
- fidotron 2y agoIf they're not from an actual southerner they absolutely are. Just look at how their usage is promoted in this thread to defeat supposed evils elsewhere in the language.
- Apocryphon 2y agoPerhaps the solution then should be to replace “y’all” with the northern regional equivalents of “youse” or even “yinz.” Would you feel happier about that?
- fidotron 2y agoThe other revealing thing is the way you people sound like you're in therapy sessions, always trying to frame things with emotive questions. There's actually nothing wrong with the existing generally used words.
- Apocryphon 2y agoWhat do you mean by “you people?” Are these people in the room with you right now?