Guys?

[BeeGeenie]

Nah, it's cool. I use guys, dude, bro and the like to refer to my female friends, and I'm not bothered when those things are used to refer to me.
I'm cool with being called dude, you guys can be chill about being called lady.

It's certainly better than "dudette." The 80s were dark times.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, doesn't really sound right to me.

Especially as its ambiguous. You can mean a mixed gender group, or the members of that group of one gender.

 

[Bobular]

Nah, it's cool. I use guys, dude, bro and the like to refer to my female friends, and I'm not bothered when those things are used to refer to me.
I'm cool with being called dude, you guys can be chill about being called lady.

It's certainly better than "dudette." The 80s were dark times.

I occasionally use dudette still, mostly as a joke but I do still use it. Thought it was more of a 90s thing though as that's when I grew up.

 

[Snails]

I find that I use the word guys weirdly. I will refer to any group of people as 'you guys', no matter if they are all male or all female or a mix. On the other hand I will refer to single males as 'that guy' but I wouldn't refer to a single female as a guy. I will also use the word guy to refer to someones gender as in 'Jo is a guy'.

So it looks like I use guy to refer to males but guys as gender neutral, am I weird for doing this? am I using the word wrong? do the girls who come into my stall and I great them with 'Hi guys' get offended but are too polite to say anything? Do you guys also use guys gender neutrally?

I was under the impression everyone did this.

 

[Just Ebola]

Eh, doesn't really sound right to me.

Especially as its ambiguous. You can mean a mixed gender group, or the members of that group of one gender.

Isn't that the point? It's ambiguous so it can be all-inclusive. Plus in the real world, that world that isn't the internet, efficiency is important, and saying 'you guys' to a mixed bag of people is a lot more efficient than saying "ladies, gentlemen, trans, beings of all configuration".

Honestly you'd have to be have some pretty delicate sensibilities to be offended by what is now basically a gender-neutral term, especially when it's used in a group setting, where broad strokes are bound to be used.

Working in a clothing store, most of my colleagues are female, so when an MOD says something like "fall in line , ladies" I don't take offense. Again, efficiency, don't make the mistake of thinking internet ideals mean anything once you step outside. But I guess it helps that I don't have skin so thin it's basically transparent.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, doesn't really sound right to me.

Especially as its ambiguous. You can mean a mixed gender group, or the members of that group of one gender.

Isn't that the point? It's ambiguous so it can be all-inclusive. Plus in the real world, that world that isn't the internet, efficiency is important, and saying 'you guys' to a mixed bag of people is a lot more efficient than saying "ladies, gentlemen, trans, beings of all configuration".

You do have the option of saying "everyone" if you mean everyone, though.

 

[Catnip1024]

At least once on TV or somewhere, I saw "guys" referring to a group of women; I agree, that's odd.

What is the acceptable option for addressing a group of women though, particularly as a guy, in a relatively formal context? "Ladies..." can come across a little bit like you're hitting on them, "Girls" sounds a bit patronising. My personal default "peeps" doesn't really work in formal settings.

This has bugged me for years.

 

[Headsprouter]

Not worth worrying about if you ask me. I'm the same as you, a mixed group or group of women are still "guys" to me. I don't really care if it bothers them, because they ought to know I'm not trying to be offensive.

You know a friend's sister actually once acted like "wo-man" was a legitimate gender issue.

Then they said they liked buzzfeed and it all made sense.