So I’ve realized that in conversations I’ll use traditional terms for men as general terms for all genders, both singularly and for groups. I always mean it well, but I’ve been thinking that it’s not as inclusive to women/trans people.
For example I would say:
“What’s up guys?” “How’s it going man?” "Good job, my dude!” etc.
Replacing these terms with person, people, etc sounds awkward. Y’all works but sounds very southern US (nowhere near where I am located) so it sounds out of place.
So what are some better options?
Edit: thanks for all the answers peoples, I appreciate the honest ones and some of the funny ones.
The simplest approach is to just drop the usage of guys, man, etc. Folks for groups and mate for singular appeal to me when I do want to add one in between friends.
Guys is 100% gender neutral.
Also, can’t go wrong with the old standby “Stay Fresh, Cheesebags!”
Coming from a Midwestern state in US, guys, is a very common word. I would say GenX/Millennials use it most, can’t speak for GenZ much, or Alpha as I never know what they are saying anyway.
Probably because people have been using it since the 90s for either gender. Same with dude. I was in high school over a decade ago but back then I remember dude and guys being gender neutral, both guys and girls used it that way. Funnily enough this same conversation was happening back then too among my peers, and we all agreed it was already gender neutral at the time.
If you said “I brought some guys back to my place last night”, do you really think people would be imagining a mixed gender group? Do you think they would ever imagine you brought a group of women back with you when you said that? Guys is masculine sometimes used to generalize across a group that includes non-males. It only applies when at least one male is around.
I would probably use gals in your specific example, but personally, I would use guys if addressing a group of girl friends, but that’s just how I perceive the word. I guess once you add ‘the’ or ‘some’ behind guys, I perceive it as masculine, but it feels totally neutral to me in other contexts, such as “C’mon guys, let’s go X!” or “Guys, check this out.”
