I'm not a native English speaker and, as such, I've come to know the term "guys" as unbiased as possible. And, of course, the Internet has been my main source of information about it and yes, it appeared to me that was used mainly to refer to males. Just like "dudes".
But then I've learnt that those words are used gender-neutrally, and not knowing much, I blamed that to the old trope "there are no women on the Internet lol" - that's never been true, of course, but there surely was a solid disparity in the mid '90s.
Since then I've been confused: some thought "guys" was for males, other didn't... So I just stopped using it altogether to avoid confusion.
But then again:
Some argue that it is a gender-neutral term. Well, it is not.
Uhm, wait a minute. Who decided it?
Any linguist will tell you that the meaning of words aren't set in stone, but rather it's derived by their usage. So, if it's used as a gender-neutral noun, it effectively is gender-neutral, period.
I witnessed a group of women greeting each other with "hey guys". 🤯 And I bet I'm not the only one.
But, of course, context matter. And "context" also includes the area you're speaking in. Your perception of a term might differ a lot. And being on the Internet makes it all confusing, because it's not clear what's the context, and if there's one. If you have learnt that "guys" isn't gender-neutral, who am I to tell you it's not true? I don't own the English language. Nobody does. I mean, look at me, using "learnt" like an Englishman from 1950.
Like I said, I've stopped using "guys"a whole ago exactly because I didn't want women to be left out.
At the same time, culture and context are always shifting, especially in the age of the Internet, so I try to be careful when it comes to cultural things.
In Utah, girls frequently refer to each other as "guys." Y'all would be useful but nobody here wants to sound like they're from the South. I've noticed some people in tech talks or politics try to use "folks" as a replacement, but it just sounds so dorky, and conjures up images of old people.
Growing up in California, "You guys" is what everyone says to a group of people. We would say "come on guys" to our pets as well. Just a term we used for everyone, but I can see how it could make someone feel left out who didn't grow up around that.
I've only lived in one state in the US, but in my experiences of living in Michigan, groups are always "y'all" and not "guys". Usage includes "all y'all" when emphasizing inclusion in the collective 2nd person, "hey y'all" as a greeting, and "y'all's" for 2nd person possessive. I don't know anyone who uses "guys" for any of these purposes.
My friends from other Midwestern states say the same thing, so this map looks unfamiliar to me. But again, I'm not intimately familiar with language across the States, just in the state I've lived in.
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I'm not a native English speaker and, as such, I've come to know the term "guys" as unbiased as possible. And, of course, the Internet has been my main source of information about it and yes, it appeared to me that was used mainly to refer to males. Just like "dudes".
But then I've learnt that those words are used gender-neutrally, and not knowing much, I blamed that to the old trope "there are no women on the Internet lol" - that's never been true, of course, but there surely was a solid disparity in the mid '90s.
Since then I've been confused: some thought "guys" was for males, other didn't... So I just stopped using it altogether to avoid confusion.
But then again:
Uhm, wait a minute. Who decided it?
Any linguist will tell you that the meaning of words aren't set in stone, but rather it's derived by their usage. So, if it's used as a gender-neutral noun, it effectively is gender-neutral, period.
I witnessed a group of women greeting each other with "hey guys". 🤯 And I bet I'm not the only one.
But, of course, context matter. And "context" also includes the area you're speaking in. Your perception of a term might differ a lot. And being on the Internet makes it all confusing, because it's not clear what's the context, and if there's one. If you have learnt that "guys" isn't gender-neutral, who am I to tell you it's not true? I don't own the English language. Nobody does. I mean, look at me, using "learnt" like an Englishman from 1950.
Like I said, I've stopped using "guys"a whole ago exactly because I didn't want women to be left out.
At the same time, culture and context are always shifting, especially in the age of the Internet, so I try to be careful when it comes to cultural things.
In Utah, girls frequently refer to each other as "guys." Y'all would be useful but nobody here wants to sound like they're from the South. I've noticed some people in tech talks or politics try to use "folks" as a replacement, but it just sounds so dorky, and conjures up images of old people.
Growing up in California, "You guys" is what everyone says to a group of people. We would say "come on guys" to our pets as well. Just a term we used for everyone, but I can see how it could make someone feel left out who didn't grow up around that.
I've only lived in one state in the US, but in my experiences of living in Michigan, groups are always "y'all" and not "guys". Usage includes "all y'all" when emphasizing inclusion in the collective 2nd person, "hey y'all" as a greeting, and "y'all's" for 2nd person possessive. I don't know anyone who uses "guys" for any of these purposes.
My friends from other Midwestern states say the same thing, so this map looks unfamiliar to me. But again, I'm not intimately familiar with language across the States, just in the state I've lived in.