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Is "Youse Guys" a bad phrase?

E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Subpar Spatula said:
Well, it evolved into the male category. FYI, language seems to evolving to gender-neutral terms like "folks", "everyone", "everybody", "y'all", etc. I think it's because "you guys" isn't as gender-neutral as a lot believe even though it's commonly used.

You're not even trying to understand the phrase "you guys" but just keep latching onto the fact that everyone says it therefore the entire thing is gender-neutral. Males, female, other can all say "you guys" and be fine but it doesn't make the core of the phrase gender-neutral because it literally references guys AKA the plural version of males because language evolved to define "guy" as "male".
Click to expand...

I understand what your argument is but it's still an argument for why it should change which is different from an argument for what it is. "You guys" IS gender neutral because humans who speak English use the term in a gender neutral way, you disagreeing with it's use doesn't change it's meaning. You can't argue your way into changing lexicon. One day it might evolve to not be gender neutral but that day is not today.
 
T

Turin

Banned
Subpar Spatula said:
Well, it evolved into the male category. FYI, language seems to evolving to gender-neutral terms like "folks", "everyone", "everybody", "y'all", etc. I think it's because "you guys" isn't as gender-neutral as a lot believe even though it's commonly used.

You're not even trying to understand the phrase "you guys" but just keep latching onto the fact that everyone says it therefore the entire thing is gender-neutral. Males, female, other can all say "you guys" and be fine but it doesn't make the core of the phrase gender-neutral because it literally references guys AKA the plural version of males because language evolved to define "guy" as "male".
Click to expand...

Language is malleable and it never stops changing. Best to just chill and let this stuff happen organically. Maybe it'll get to where you want it to someday. lol
 
S

SeanTSC

Member
Einchy said:
I understand what your argument is but it's still an argument for why it should change which is different from an argument for what it is. "You guys" IS gender neutral because humans who speak English use the term in a gender neutral way, you disagreeing with it's use doesn't change it's meaning. You can't argue your way into changing lexicon. One day it might evolve to not be gender neutral but that day is not today.
Click to expand...

I would also like to add that this was even heavily reinforced in schools growing up here. I've never once in my life heard a Teacher refer to their class by the following: Children, Boys and Girls, Guys and Girls, People, Y'all, or even Class. It was *always* Guys, You Guys, Alright Guys, Come on Guys, okay Guys, etc. Both men and women teachers used it this way. Even English teachers used it this way.
 
G

George Oscar Bluth II

Banned
200.gif
 
N

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Subpar Spatula said:
I've never heard anyone call a woman "dude" or even go "Hey dude" to them. Who are these people that call women dudes?
Click to expand...

Subpar Spatula said:
Well, I gotta, it's a really big claim. I'm trying really hard to think of / find material in media where women are called dudes. Like an abundance of this to make it common or ordinary. Maybe in Dudeism or surfer culture? But even then I can't place media doing this, so it's hard for me to believe it's that much different.
Click to expand...

Fuck man... you come in and be contradictory just to be contradictory.. and then deny facts that are tossed in your face.. and then deny when someone claims they've heard people call a woman dude.

It's not common.. but I've heard and multiple others in the thread have.

Give it up man.. just admit you're wrong and move on.
 
G

Geist-

Member
Subpar Spatula said:
I've never heard anyone call a woman "dude" or even go "Hey dude" to them. Who are these people that call women dudes?
Click to expand...

Every social circle I've ever had (that has included both girls and boys), in Nevada, Washington, and Missouri, have used dude as a gender neutral addressal.
 
S

Steamlord

Member
"You beings"


Brakke said:
“You guys” is acceptable but I don’t like. The gender thing doesn’t super matter but it’s not ideal.

I made the switch to y’all, personally. It’s great in writing because it allows for the championship contraction, “y’all’ll”.
Click to expand...

Don't forget "y'all'll've"
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
Like, I completely get that a person who doesn't know that it's gender-neutral could be upset by it, and I wouldn't be all "Surprise, surprise: Whiny PC culture strikes again; everyone has to be offended by everything" about it. As a customer though, to get a lecture over it by some company representative, I'd definitely have a "Yeah, okay, whatever" eye-roll reaction to it.
 
P

Painguy

Member
Thx for the responses! From what I'm gathering its a combination of context, region and the brokeness of the english language.

Love that title change btw. :p

I'd use y'all but the sound makes me uncomfortable in the same way that saying moist does haha.
 
T

Tucking Fypo

Banned
I have always said "you guys" as a blanket, non gendered term towards a group of people too large to list their names individually.

For example. If there's more than 3 people in my office I'll say "Hey, do you guys want a coffee whilst I go get myself one"?

But, if there were 2 people in my office at that time I'd say "Hey Airita, Duncan, do you want me to grab a coffee whilst I'm getting myself one"?.

Mostly it doesn't even cross my mind so I'm not going to change it because someone else may not like it.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
"you guys" is completely fine, and broadly accepted by most of the population as a normal way to address people; guys is gender neutral as a term. some people are needlessly sensitive about it, kinda like when they whine that saying "mankind" isn't inclusive enough, even though he's one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
 
E

exhume

Member
I am a woman, my workplace is 100% women and our clients are 80% women. We all call each other 'dude' and 'guy' and so forth all day long.

OP sounds like you just triggered that person's pet peeve.

Mine is when people misspell 'definitely' as 'definately'. Makes me irrationally angry and I call people out on it too, lol.
 
I

Ishan

Junior Member
We need to come up with terms for all of this which makes grammatical sense . There was a prior thread about a transgender person and it shifted to them and themselves them is a plural. We need to actually figure this out respectfully but also grammatically
Edit :
I'm aware this is an evolving issue but is there a consensus on how to reference ppl who lie within the spectrum but don't identify binarily ?
 
S

SixMachine

Member
Calabi said:
"You Humans"

"You homo sapiens"

There inclusive enough surely.
Click to expand...

What do you do if you are talking to mutants aka homo superior. Magneto would be all like, "It's not you humans, its you humans and mutants. Remember it's you humans and mutants. There are mutants too."

Then he will kill you by ripping the iron out of your body.
 
F

Futureman

Member
exhume said:
I am a woman, my workplace is 100% women and our clients are 80% women. We all call each other 'dude' and 'guy' and so forth all day long.

OP sounds like you just triggered that person's pet peeve.

Mine is when people misspell 'definitely' as 'definately'. Makes me irrationally angry and I call people out on it too, lol.
Click to expand...

That's just weird to me... I can understand people saying it casually. I do sometimes but try not to. But in a professional environment I would never use "you guys" to address a group of women.
 
W

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
A male co-worker uses guys for everyone and this was his reasoning:

“If I say gals, I sound silly. If I say girls it’s condescending. If I say women it sounds like improper English. If I say ladies it’s too formal.”

I kind of agree with him tbh. A guy saying “You ladies have a nice day.” Sounds very fedora-ey to me. (We work in a university book store, so a somewhat casual place.)
 
R

RustyNails

Member
"You guys and gals" is just cringey and unnecessarily puts women in group on the spot.

"Y'all" seems exclusively reserved for people from down south. Someone from Chicago using it comes off as fake and wrong.

"You all" however can be ok in some situations but bad in others.

"You folks" is not applicable in all situations. You cant call Bank of America and refer to them as "folks". Unless you want to come off as a country bumpkin.

"You people" is antagonistic.

"You frogs" is the winner and applicable in every situation.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
You really should have a talk or fire an email to his supervisor. It's not about the definition of "you guys" but his attitude toward customers.
 
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