"You Guys"

I agree with SenecaFalls...

"Y'all" covers it.

More English alternative is to just use "people".

I use "guys" a lot but have consciously tried to stop because I don't like it.

That link upthread offers "folks", "peeps" and "comrades" as alternatives. I may start trying these out (with "comrades" being tongue-in-cheek).

People make the Male assumption if you say I was talking to a doctor.

Which people?! Not at all convinced on that one...

I've said it before on threads like these, and I'll say it again. This is not a problem in the American South. What y'all need is "y'all."

It’s meaning is changing over time. 20 years ago, me being considered just one of the guys was a compliment,because it meant they saw me as a person first and a woman second. It was a near all male environment

I think guys is perfectly ok. Shame savile ruined 'guys and gals'.

Idk. At the Uni in the US where I was a post-doc my GC female US colleague would regularly address us, even if a group of girls only, as ‚you guys‘.

You guys has turned up as an attempt for English to distinguish between
You = one person
You = more than one person

It is a useful distinction and it's got 300 million American English speakers behind it. That's why it's catching. One of the problems is that, yes, it uses a male noun.

British English has come up with a different solution: "yous". This is admirably devoid of gender and consistent with English grammar but socially unpalatable to many.

Which one do you think is more likely to become mainstream?

I know what you mean, but I must confess I'm scratching my head for an everyday alternative.

I'm with you OP.

It's not gender neutral. It assumes that women are happy to fit it with men (the dominant default), but no one would expect the other way around.

Another Americanism that sounds odd to my ear is the use of the word "bathroom" when talking about lavatories/toilets/bogs/the gents/the ladies.

I notice that younger TRAs use the term a lot. I've never seen a sign to the 'bathroom' or heard it used when I'm out and about. 'Where are the bathrooms, please?' is a question that I have never been asked.

I prefer a term that does exactly what it says on the tin, rather than twee imported language.

At least they TRAs haven't started calling female's toilets 'the powder room' yet - I'm thankful for small mercies.

Isn’t the test to see if it is gender neutral to a heterosexual man how many x you have slept with?

So how many people have you slept with would be considered fine. But asking a heterosexual man how many guys he has slept with would be considered inappropriate. Therefore women are not considered to be included in guys.

There was this doctor I was talking to.

There was this nurse I was talking to.

There was this firefighter I was talking to.

There was this funeral director I was talking to.

There was this teacher I was talking to. ?????

Guys is fine.

vimeo.com/276940268

I don't mind it because we have something similar in Ireland. If I told someone in my family that 'the lads' were coming to something, they'd know exactly who I meant, and I'd be referring to a group of females.

Guys ( plural);used as sex/gender neutral in many groups. I think it might help in general if we had more neutral terms. I have heard dd use it about an all girl group. It’s sort of saying, where sex doesn’t matter, don’t bring it up.

People make the Male assumption if you say I was talking to a doctor.

I don't like it either. I've made a concerted effort to remove 'male as default' language from my idiolect. I don't mention it when others do it because I can't really be bothered, but I don't use it myself anymore.

Absolutely. See, there's this guy I was talking to....

I was talking to a bloke wasn't I?

www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/guys-gender-neutral/568231/