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Original poster

"guys" - an acceptable form of address for women?

109 replies

BelleCurve · 23/04/2011 18:46

Is this appropriate/acceptable ever to use for a team of women/mixed? Does it matter if the person saying it is male or female?

I am trying to think of an improvement, but "ladies" or "girls" is even worse

OP posts:
ajandjjmum · 24/04/2011 08:13

I say 'Guys' - when they were little, one of ds's friends used to refer to me as the 'guy lady'!!! Grin

yama · 24/04/2011 08:09

Another user of 'folks' here. I don't hate 'guys' and I wouldn't assume male when I hear it.

By the way, I call my parents 'the folks' or 'my folks'.

IngridBergman · 24/04/2011 08:07

You could also say that wearing trousers is being subsumed into the masculine...while there is little chance that the man in ths skirt will catch on.

Should we not wear kecks then?

IngridBergman · 24/04/2011 08:07

I know what you mean seeker but even so...it's one of those massively overthought things. Life is too short, or is it?

I cna't be bothered to analyse its origins, I just use it as it's easy I suppose.

Not that I would do the same with battery eggs, mind, but that involves actual suffering. iyswim some things are worth worrying about and some just aren't.

Willabywallaby · 24/04/2011 08:05

BIL uses 'team' and since DH is one of 5 when out with the ILs it's very appropriate.

seeker · 24/04/2011 08:03

I think you can only say that you are "claiming the term for use by women" if there was a snowball's chance in hell that a term used only for women would ever be used to cover a mixed group.

[very-cautious-about-this-reclaiming-business-emoticon]

Willabywallaby · 24/04/2011 08:01

I use 'folks', never been able to say guys since I'm not American.

IngridBergman · 24/04/2011 08:00

I would only avoid using it where there might be a risk that those I was addressing could imagine I thought they were actually men when they are maybe mixed or women.

So for instance on a tech forum when I have had replies to a post, I might not say 'thanks guys' if one of the respondents was a woman, because she might think I was assuming she was a bloke just for knowing about tech stuff. I wouldn't want to offend.

Otherwise I see NO issue with it, and think it's not worth worrying about. Subsuming into the male mantle or claiming the term for us as women> you decide.

seeker · 24/04/2011 07:59

"Chaps" is OK if said in a slightly Bigglesish way "OK, chaps - lets get weaving" I do that sometimes.

But I have a friend who always says "Chaps and chapesses". Which makes me want to kill him.

jenny60 · 24/04/2011 07:59

Chop and change between all, people and everyone. Or monkeys when talking to small children. I generally hate folks but sometimes fall back on it. Must try team.
I think seeker is right about guys. For me and family it is gender neutral
but can see how it might be heard in a mixed gender group. Use with caution I suppose.

noodle69 · 24/04/2011 07:58

Yeah dont say 'team' who are you David Brent?

LynetteScavo · 24/04/2011 07:57

I call my DC "guys" all the time.

I, personally don't find it at all offensive. I think it has now become gender neutral when referring to more than one person.

"people" makes me think of the dance teacher from Fame, "peeps" is sniggertastic. Folk is quite nice.

knit2tog · 24/04/2011 07:57

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CheerfulYank · 24/04/2011 07:57

I say guys to everyone. But I'm American. :)

knit2tog · 24/04/2011 07:56

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MarshaBrady · 24/04/2011 07:56

Folks here.

Ladies makes me twitch as does girls. Especially 'girls' night out' etc. Blerk.

SardineQueen · 24/04/2011 07:55

Just realised I also say "chaps" a lot, which has the same problems. But I say it because it amuses me to use slightly old fashioned language, that doesn't help though does it.

knit2tog · 24/04/2011 07:54

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seeker · 24/04/2011 07:48

I find this one tricky. I use "guys" a lot - when I'm talking to my children or a mized group of their friends - and for me it has become gender neutral, but I know that it hasn't for lots of people, and I'm not sure about he message it sends to girls. I cannot imagine circumstaces in which a traditionally feminine term, like "lasses", would become gender neutral enough to use for a mixed group. So basically, we're tellilng girls that it's OK for them to be subsumed into the masculine world but never, ever the other way round.

"Team" has Blackadder associations in our family, and is only used in a Lord Percy voice and ironically.

Can't bear the tweeness of peeps.

Hate "ladies".

Double hate "girls" for adult women.

StewieGriffinsMom · 24/04/2011 07:45

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Reality · 24/04/2011 07:38

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SardineQueen · 24/04/2011 07:36

Folks is a good one.

I think I just say "everyone". As in "right then everyone are we going for a burger now or what?" Grin

WhoKnowsWhereTheChocolateGoes · 23/04/2011 21:48

I don't mind guys, people, folks prefer all of them to girls or ladies, even for an all women group.

everyspring · 23/04/2011 21:44

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goodegg · 23/04/2011 21:17

I use 'folks'.