|
The plural "guys" definitely is, at least here in San Francisco — I'm often hearing all-girl companies here being greeted with 'Hi guys, how are you doing?'. How about the singular guy? Is it universally assumed that 'the guy who will be doing this' can be either guy or gal? |
||||
|
|
"You guys" is a familiar, all-inclusive way of addressing a group of men or women directly. That said, there are some important distinctions you must understand: "You guys" is more likely to be said in women => women or men => men or women => men or mixed-group => mixed-group contexts. It is less likely to be used in men => women contexts, but is still heard and would probably not occasion any confusion or merriment. The singular "guy" is another animal. It refers to males. It is also used to draw gender distinctions in a general way.
There is no doubt that this is a man we're talking about. In most plural usages that are not directly addressing a group, this rule also applies.
This will also be understood to refer to men only. If you wanted to make the same statement about women, you would use another noun: women, gals, whatever. However, you could say something like
Now we're not sure we're talking about men. If the speaker is female, it might mean a group of women. Note that I say might. It is more likely she would still be talking about men, but you never know. It's a hard word to pin down. Much depends on context. |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
What would a guy say to a bunch of grown females:
Guys don't call grown females girls - girls are not fully grown. Its almost an insult to call women 'girls' from a guys perspective. Women on the other hand would walk in to their book club and say "Hi Girls" as they have their 'femininity' in common. The correct term for a group of girls is "Ladies", when referred to by men. The correct term for a group of guys is 'Gentlemen'. The term 'guys' is therefor gender specific and is used incorrectly as slang. When referring to a group of 'guys' and 'girls', one should say
|
|||||
|
|
I would say that "guy" is somewhat gender neutral, at least in "gender neutral" contexts. Example: "Those guys are getting something to eat." Those PEOPLE are getting something to eat. (Everyone needs to eat.) But, "Those women are all dating GUYs." The context is not "gender neutral." It's clear that those women are all "hetero." |
|||
|
|
|
Appearing before the California Supreme Court, Deputy DA Borris once addressed the bench as "you guys". Unfortunately, the Chief Justice asked him "To whom are you referring?" and the only female judge asked "Does that include me?" I don't know what the moral is. |
|||
|
|
|
I agree with the posting by Innate that guys is most definitely not gender neutral, since we have gender neutral words in English that are much more appropriate such as you all, you folks, everyone, you people etc. The word guy is singularity male and the word guys can only be assigned gender neutrality if it wasn't used to describe men specifically, and which 99 percent of articles that refer to men uses the word guys. If the word men is considered sexist and non-inclusive, the word guys is right beside it. |
||||
|
