To use the word "guys" to refer to people

[AliceAbsolum]

When referring to a mix of gendered people is there anything wrong with saying:

"Hey guys"

"Nice one guys"

"Guys, shall we catch up soon"?

Is it sexist against women? I don't know what opinion to have, so wise vipers please tell me your thoughts.

Guys definitely means males.

Ask a (straight) man if he fucks guys, the answer will almost certainly be no.

I do see it as gendered and I see it as conforming to men as the norm, women as the other. It's not really gender neutral at all. It's like saying man is neutral as in, mankind. We now say humankind, as it includes both sexes. Or we say people instead of men. A guy is a man.

There was a previous thread asking the same question. I think most people replied along the line that the term "guys" is OK if you're addressing a male audience, but is not suitable otherwise.

I dislike the term, but it's useful for spotting trolls and lazy journalists, as they often use it around here.

Technically speaking I've always thought of it as slightly nonsensical to call everyone 'guys', its origins , after all is as a collective noun for young men. Think of it this way, imagine the confusion on 'Happy Days' if there had been two restrooms, both for guys! It doesn't bear thinking about!
It's just a phrase like many others that people have come to use without thought or logic, just something you say, quite meaningless but absurd if you think about it. Plus, in light of the social changes that would have seemed unimaginable at the time the term started to be used, it's very easy to see why it would cause offence to the myriad and rich classifications of gender that now exist in society.

I got in the habit of 'guys' for a mixed group decades ago, because I work for a US company, in a US-based team - it's commonplace there.

But I can understand this misgiving if you've not got habituated to it: It's unisex in the way that all 'unisex' things are men's things that women can use too, if they want.

I saw this great guy last night.

Oh, man or woman?

I find it mildly irritating in the sense that its reminiscent of a BBC kids TV presenter from the 1980s trying to be cool. Never really enough to get worked up about.

Never really thought of it actively as gendered. I suppose it is really. It's never struck me as being gendered before until now. It's worth unpicking a bit though isn't it: why do we say "guys" to a mixed sex group, but never "men", "blokes" or "lads"?

It's fine. We've used it in Scotland for decades.

@Hotzenplotz

Or how about "Human bastards"?

@Hotzenplotz both your answers get my vote. I will endeavour to use them in my team meeting tomorrow 😁

@Hotzenplotz both your answers get my vote. I will endeavour to use them in my team meeting tomorrow 😁

Please record you team meeting and post it on here

Ta

Your...

I use the term 'guys', for everyone.

My dh days it a fair bit to our kids. Dd is 4 and always tells him that she is not a guy and is a girl. She has also said she doesn't like it so dh tries not to say it. It isn't a phrase I tend to use, I wouldn't take offence at its use.

I don't like being addressed as a man. Not because I'm easily offended but because I'm not a man.

I really don’t like it, but would not get precious about it. However, I had a boss who would say ‘morning, GANG’ and refer to us as GANG all day. Irritated the shit out of me.

How about starting to use " hi gals/ladies" instead? I think a large proportion of the population would mind being called one of those!

I wouldn't use it to anyone over the age of 15. I can't imagine saying it to anyone at work. Although dudes would be worse by far!

I often address my work colleagues and friends this way. I had no idea that it was controversial. I'm also over 50 and call my friends girls, shoot me now! Love that a previous poster thought 50 was the cut off, I challlenge her to a roller skating competition.

I see it as a modern way of addressing a mixed collective. It made me laugh on an episode of Scorpion when the students described "guys" as a micro aggression. The responder replied, "if its micro why is it an issue?"

Cringeworthy term. Sounds like people trying too hard to be 'cool'. And - what's worse, makes me think of Jimmy Saville's 'guys and gals'

No problem.
Rather that than "hun"! That's cringe/ cheap and nasty

I've pulled people up on it (without drama) a fair bit at work, because I work in an industry which has been stereotypically male in the past and my team has been at least half women in recent years. I feel that ditching "guys" signals that women don't have to fit in with a blokey culture any more, we exist!

I think it is worth bringing up, language is important and in my experience it has made people more aware of other assumptions they are making. Every little helps.

I've hinted at work that the expression 'balls deep' makes me feel a bit ick but it's not sunk in

Maybe it's not balls deep... Something else they say. I'll try to remember.

I use it and don’t find any issue with it. I very much see it as gender neutral.
However I do appreciate some might not and would be willing to use an alternative if I had a good one - I work regularly with 100+ secondary school students so ‘hey team’ isn’t right ‘hey everyone’ is too long to bellow across a hall and so on and so forth. I have a very odd accent which is a mixture of growing up in the north, having an incredibly well spoken mam, lots of Irish family and a LOT of exposure to American TV as a child, so lots of the alternatives sound frankly bizarre from me 😂

I am not that bothered by it but don’t tend to use it myself. My emails are usually addressed-Dear Colleagues or less formally, Hi Everyone or Hi All.
If I was speaking I would say - Hi Everyone- although I would love to use Hi All Y’All but that might sound rather strange in Scotland! ( My DSis lives in the USA and I love this phrase!)