What is the proper way to address a light email/message to a small group of 2-or-3 people, where the group includes both sexes? I normally just use the term "guys" as in "Hey guys" or "Good morning guys".
However, I'm wondering if I'm alienating the female(s) in the group. With a larger group, I would just use the term "all" as in "Good morning all", but that seems strange when I'm only writing to a couple of people.
Any alternatives?
I have replaced "guys" and "you guys" with "everyone" in my day-to-day speech:
Hey, everyone, how's it going?
What is everyone up to this weekend?
Good morning, everyone. Today we are going to talk about gender-neutral substitutions in our everyday speech.
That's very similar to replacing "guys" with all or you all (or even y'all). If all or everyone seems too "big" for just two people, then you could substitute both.
How are you both doing this morning?
You could try folks
Folks is many a politicians’ favored term for people. It’s class-neutral and gender-neutral. In a country that uses y’all, you guys, youse, and yinz, it is confidently American, but neighborhood-neutral. It is informal. It is cuddly. A politician represents his constituents. He thinks about the people. But he cares for folks — all you folks, including you there in the back.
Barack Obama: "We Tortured Some Folks"
Some people use folks when addressing a group of people in an informal way. This use is more common in American English than in British English.
That's all for tonight, folks.
They saw me drive out of town taking you folks up to McCaslin.
Everyone and all work well here for me. I frequently have to write such emails for a weekly social gathering, and both have served me well.
Hey, all!
Good morning all!
Hey everyone!
Good morning, everyone!
(Inconsistent commas slightly intentional: this is informal writing, after all.)
In cases where all seems wrong because of the number of addressees, I've made it extra-informal by altering it to y’all, which makes it slightly humourous when sent to only two people…
Good morning y’all!
… or simply used no word at all, which is particularly justifiable as an informal written greeting:
Hey!
Good morning!
Plumbing the arcane depths of the English language, I proffer hello:
Used as a greeting or to begin a telephone conversation
I have studied critical theory at post-graduate level and cannot think of any way that it could offend, marginalise or contribute to ideological constructs of gender oppression, and so could be deployed safely under the given circumstances.
According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (CALD),
guys [plural] MAINLY US
used to address a group of people of either sex
Alternatively, you can use people to address the group.
Also from the CALD,
people [plural]
used to refer to everyone, or informally to the group that you are speaking to
Why do you need any noun at all?
Hi,
Problem solved!
If you're addressing a group that could benefit from stronger group identity, consider referring to the group as "group", "team", "gang", etc. For example, "Good morning, team!" or "Howdy, gang." If the group has a name, just use that name: "Hey, Jackals!"
This approach is not only gender neutral, it also drives home the point that your message is equally important to every person receiving it, and that each one should consider themselves an acknowledged part of the greater unit.
I just tend to say
Hi, you three!
(or two). Four or more I tend to use
Hi all!
you three to me sounds like an elementary school teacher addressing a group of possibly misbehaving kids - you three - cut it out!. I would never use this in a professional context. Very easy for this to sound patronizing.
The word people works, of course, and can be made informal as peeps.
Hello, people!
Hi peeps!
While probably not my first choice for the workplace, I had to manage a group of students at school that required group e-mails. My go-to salutation for these fine folks was
Hey Gang,
I like it because it's casual, inclusive, and lets me pretend that I am Freddy from Scooby-Doo.
Similar to 568ml 's answer above, I usually avoid the problem by skipping the greeting altogether.
Rather than:
Good morning [fill in something here]. We'll be having a team meeting at 10:00 AM.
I usually just write:
We'll be having a team meeting at 10:00 AM.
I'm sure it makes me come across as stiff and unfriendly, but it seems to beat the alternative.
I know 'Everyone' was offered by Todd Wilcox but I'd like to offer 'Everybody'.
"Hi everybody!" -Dr. Nick Riviera
"Hey everybody!"
"Hello everybody,"
If the context is an email, then perhaps you should also consider 'whom'
"To whom it may concern,"
"For those whom this affects,"
If you're in a formal setting, what about addressing the room "Good morning/afternoon everybody/everyone"?
If you're really just writing to two or three people, why not just greet them by name? For example,
Hello Pat, Chris, and Alex:
I have found this greeting especially helpful when the email is addressed to a few people but is copied to a larger group; it alerts the people who received copies that the email is not actually addressed directly to them.
For a larger group, "people" is a generic word. Alternatively, if the addressees all have some role in common, you could use that:
Hello ABC development team:
(which works even for two people, if that's the entire team) or
Hello fellow accountants:
'Guys' is not gender-specific unless you have someone in the group who wants to make an issue out of it.
Common terms I see in light-hearted greetings in England include:
On the informal side:
If you are referring to a team, you can refer its members as "friends" (however small it may be and irrespective of it being composed of any number of male or female members), such as:
Hello/Hi friends! How is it going?
You can use a simple "you", as a plural.
Example:
Just use ye. Ye is still the only word in most English dictionaries across all dialects defined as the standard 2nd person plural.
Everyone
For example:
"Good news, Everyone!"
It's used to address to a small group of 2-or-3 people, where the group includes both sexes... and a robot... and a lobster.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Be sure to always mention ladies first, not just out of chivalry but because "Gentlemen and Ladies" sounds strange.
Case (pun intended) in point:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury...
So if your audience is between 6 and 12 people of mixed gender who you want to get your point across to, this is not a terrible way to address them; nor is it one without precedent nor successful results.
Maybe this is better in person than in print, but it's still appropriate and timeless.
Happy Monday, (or whatever day of the week it is).
Yeah, you might not actually be happy that it is Monday, but still it sounds good, and not out of place as the start of an email.
